The Port of Singapore will not overtake the Port of Shanghai for the title of world’s largest container port in 2013, based on poor monthly data coming out of the port and the worsening outlook in the Euro zone, according to Fast Market Research, an online market research aggregator.
As a result, the research company has revised downward its outlook for box handling at the Singapore port to just 1 percent for the year, compared with its forecast earlier this year of 1.4 percent growth. Average annual box handling growth is estimated at 3.2 percent per annum over the medium term.
The Port of Singapore’s gross tonnage will fall by 1.6 percent in 2013, with average annual growth at 1.6 percent until 2017.
Meanwhile, the country’s overall trade will grow by 1.6 percent this year, a slight decline from the earlier prediction, and will average 3.8 percent through 2017.
There are considerable risks to the Singapore port outlook, according to Fast Market Research. This arises from its massive transshipment traffic that makes it particularly susceptible to adverse developments in the global economy.
“With the Euro zone debt crisis rumbling on, and the U.S. economic recovery only now beginning to take root, there are serious risks to the downside,” it said.
Photo: Noel Reynolds
