Singapore: Despite fears of a global economic downturn January container traffic has held up well at Singapore, the world's busiest container port. PSA International has announced that throughput at its terminals was up 13.6% at 2.38m teu over January 2007, which saw a throughput of 2.10 m teu. MPA figures also show that Singapore sold 2.8m tonnes of bunker fuel during the period (21.7% more than the year before) thus maintaining its prominence as a bunkering centre.
The port hopes to see steady growth over the next few years and has launched a S$2bn ($1.4bn) expansion to increase capacity by 40% in five years, which includes that includes the construction of 26 new berths at the Pasir Panjang terminal in western Singapore. The berths are expected increase the port's handling capacity to 35m containers a year when they are completed in 2009. There are also plans for another 16 berths at the same terminal that will boost capacity by a further 14m teu.
PSA, which also operates terminals in China, Hong Kong, Europe and Panama, saw strong growth at its overseas operations, which handled 31.8m teu - 16.3% more than that handled the year before. [14/02/08]
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