Tuas mega port will boost Singapore as a maritime hub: PM Lee

[SINGAPORE] While Singapore has enjoyed much success as a maritime hub, it cannot rest on its laurels, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a Facebook post on Monday.

PM Lee wrote that while Singapore has a port in a strategic location, there are "ports in the region competing for business" and "new trade routes opening up".

He said: "The Tuas mega port will strengthen our international maritime hub. We must do all we can to keep the path ahead smooth sailing!"

PM Lee also shared a timelapse video by Facebook user Jeffhk, which he described as "spectacular".

Jeffhk, a seaman on a mega-container ship, took the 10-minute video over 30 days out at sea.

The journey went "from the Red Sea, across the Indian Ocean to the Port of Colombo, then through the Malacca Strait into Singapore, and then the South China Sea and finally arriving in Hong Kong", PM Lee noted in his Facebook post.

The prime minister said the video was the closest he would get to his dream of sailing on a container ship from port to port.

"The vastness of the ocean contrasts with the lights and activity in ports, especially PSA Singapore," wrote PM Lee. "It's one of the busiest ports in the world, but few of us ever get to see it in action!"

THE STRAITS TIMES