Container throughput at the Port of Singapore hit 32.6 million 20-foot-equivalent units in 2013, a 2.9 percent increase from the 31.6 million TEUs posted in 2012, to come second to Shanghai which remains the world’s top container port.
Total cargo tonnage handled by Singapore last year rose 3.6 percent from 2012 to reach 557.5 million tonnes.
Singapore’s Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew disclosed the advance estimates released by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) during his talk January 7 at the Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year cocktail reception.
Annual vessel arrival tonnage reached 2.33 billion gross tons last year, up 3.2 percent from the 2.25 billion GT achieved in 2012. Container ships and tankers were the top contributors, each accounting for around 30 percent of total vessel arrival tonnage.
Singapore maintained its global lead in bunker sales, recording an overall volume in 2013 of 42.5 million tonnes sold compared to 42.7 million tonnes in 2012.
The Singapore Registry of Ships also continued to grow in size, said the MPA.
“The total tonnage of ships under our register grew by 13.2 percent or 8.6 million GT in 2013. As of end December 2013, the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag was 73.6 million GT, putting Singapore among the top 10 ship registries in the world.”
Singapore is also now home to about 130 shipping groups. The maritime cluster employs more than 170,000 people and contributes some 7 percent to Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product.
The port of Shanghai in China continued to be the world’s busiest container terminal in 2013, with throughput expanding 3.3 percent to a record 33.6 million TEUs, according to Xinhua, China’s official press agency.
The city first became the world’s biggest container port in 2010 when it surpassed Singapore.
