Singapore’s maritime sector on track for another record year in 2024
Seaport has seen record values for bunkering and container throughput from January to October, airport could exceed pre-Covid levels next year
SINGAPORE’S maritime industry has posted a strong performance for 2024 so far and is on track to having a record year for container throughput and bunker sales, said Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat.
According to Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore data, container throughput at the Republic’s ports for the first 10 months of the year grew 6.2 per cent compared with the same period in 2023, to 34.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a measure of cargo capacity.
Chee, who was speaking at a media conference earlier this week, noted that this is the highest number on record for the first 10 months of a year. He added that with the strong momentum expected to continue, he expects a record year for container throughput.
The minister also said that it was likely Singapore would experience another year of record bunker sales.
For the same time period, bunker sales increased 7.5 per cent to 45.7 million tonnes.
Bunkering refers to the supplying of fuel to maritime vessels, and Singapore is the world’s largest bunkering port. In 2023, its ports posted new records, including 39 million TEUs of container throughput and bunker sales of 51.8 million tonnes.
Chee noted that Singapore’s status as a reliable transhipment hub – and also the largest in the world – means it is able to adapt to shifts or disruptions in global supply chains, such as the situation in the Red Sea and Suez Canal.
He explained: “Singapore was looked upon favourably because of our strong track record and our ability to operate efficiently as a transhipment hub. So because of these reasons, actually our business grew, even though there were disruptions in global supply chains (because of the Red Sea situation).”
In the aviation sector, he noted that Changi Airport’s traffic is recovering back to pre-Covid levels and with the “strong growth momentum in the last two months since the start of the northern winter season, we are confident that the traffic volumes will exceed pre-Covid levels in 2025”.
According to Changi Airport Group, the airport handled 61.2 million passenger movements from January to November this year. This represents a 15 per cent increase, with October and November exceeding pre-Covid levels.
In 2024, Singapore added 16 new city links by air and 10 new airlines, including Air Canada, Peach Aviation and Shandong Airlines, and it also increased the number of daily flights to key destinations such as Jakarta.
Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
