Toll to build S$228m logistics facility near future Tuas port

Singapore

IN its biggest investment in Singapore after being acquired by Japan Post in May, Australian logistics giant Toll Group said on Monday that it will build a S$228 million high-tech logistics facility that aims to serve the future mega container port in Tuas.

It is also considering building more of such hubs in Singapore and upgrading its logistics facilities across the island, Toll Global Logistics chief executive Chris Pearce said at the sidelines of the new facility's ground-breaking ceremony in Gul Crescent.

And although placing the new facility in Tuas means that it will be relatively far from the existing container terminals in Tanjong Pagar and Pasir Panjang, he told reporters that the group would still be able to compete based on its technology, even though it will not be the cheapest logistics provider around.

Noting in his speech that the facility will be 82 metres in height, which is slightly taller than Changi Airport's control tower, Mr Pearce said after the ceremony that the new facility would use more automation to cut down its reliance on labour.

A facility of this size might usually require 300 to 500 workers, but with high levels of technology, the number could be brought down by around 40 per cent, he said.

The group was "not in a hurry to get rid" of facilities it already owns in Singapore and is planning to upgrade them, he added.

Toll Group employs about 1,000 people here across seven facilities, not counting Toll City.

Mr Pearce declined to disclose whether it had locked in any customers yet, saying only that Toll was "in a lot of discussions with a lot of customers".

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Teo Ser Luck, who was the guest of honour at the ceremony, noted that Toll expects to achieve a 35 per cent productivity improvement in its warehouse operations at Toll City.

Toll Group said in a statement that the five-storey, 100,000 square metre Toll City hub will be five kilometres away from the site of the upcoming Tuas seaport, and is scheduled for completion in mid-2017.

After the facility is completed, however, it will likely still be some years before container ships start arriving at the Tuas port. The first phase of the Tuas port, which includes dredging, reclamation and the construction of wharves, is scheduled to be completed by December 2020. This suggests that the first phase may only begin operations in 2021 or later. The completion date for the entire Tuas port has not been announced yet.

Prior to the Toll City logistics facility, the Toll Group's biggest investment in Singapore was a S$300 million offshore petroleum supply base in Loyang that it opened in May 2013.