PM Lee opens PSA's S$3.5b Pasir Panjang development

Singapore

A S$3.5 billion project to add 15 mega containership berths to the Pasir Panjang terminal was officially opened on Tuesday, incidentally the 43rd anniversary of the arrival of the first containership in Singapore.

The new berths, part of Pasir Panjang Terminal Phases 3 and 4, will each be able to handle up to a million containers or twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) a year when fully operational in 2017.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who graced the opening ceremony at the terminal, said in his speech that the success of Singapore's port was critical to the country, and that the new berths would enable Pasir Panjang terminal to better serve mega containerships.

For instance, its automated gantry cranes do not need crane operators, saving on manpower and boosting productivity.

He added that the government was looking into designing the future Tuas port in such a way that it will be integrated with its surroundings and be open to the public, rather than be kept out of bounds, as ports here have traditionally been.

The 15 berths in phases 3 and 4 are designed to accommodate the huge containerships that shipping lines are increasingly deploying. They will have a maximum depth of 18m, port operator PSA said on Tuesday.

At least two of the 15 berths have begun operations. PSA added that when the expansion of Pasir Panjang Terminal is completed, Singapore will be able to handle a total of 50 million TEUs annually. In the long run, PSA's operations in Singapore will be consolidated in a massive port in Tuas, which will be designed to handle up to 65 million TEUs a year.

The Tuas port, to be built from scratch on a greenfield site, will enable Singapore to "fundamentally change" port operations through the use of technology, such as data analytics, autonomous vehicles and green technology, Mr Lee said. "And just to keep everybody on their toes: If they look out across the water, not even very far away, not even on the horizon, there are some competitors very visible."

He also said that the "major decision" by the government in 1991 to expand Singapore's port beyond Tanjong Pagar to Pasir Panjang had "proved right" in hindsight. "At that time, our total annual container throughput was six million TEUs. I was part of that decision; we had to decide, based on PSA's projections, that one day, we would be six times that size, never fear . . . And we invested ahead of time, and reclaimed the land and developed new terminals here."

Singapore's port handled 33.6 million TEUs in 2014, close to its maximum capacity of 35 million TEUs a year, making it the second busiest port in the world after Shanghai. With the completion of the expansion of the Pasir Panjang terminal to come, and the building of the Tuas mega port, Singapore is a long way from 1972, when the MV Nihon pulled into port from Rotterdam, carrying about 300 containers.