|
Singapore Sea
In 1988 the port of Singapore was the world's busiest
in terms
of shipping tonnage (396.4 million gross registered tons),
just
ahead of Rotterdam. Singapore was also a major
transshipment hub
and a global warehousing and central distribution center.
In 1988
more than 36,000 vessels arrived in Singapore, up 6
percent from
the previous year. The 150 million freight tons of cargo
handled by
the wharves and oil terminals represented an increase of
16 percent
over the previous year.
Ships of more than 700 lines linked Singapore and the
region to
some 600 ports worldwide. The port area was administered
by the
Port of Singapore Authority, a statutory board responsible
for the
provision and maintenance of facilities and services and
for the
control of navigational traffic in the port. Operations
were
continuous, round the clock and year round. As a member of
the
International Maritime Organization since 1966, Singapore
kept
abreast of international developments in shipping and
adhered to
international conventions adopted under the organization's
auspices. The five port terminals operated by the port
authority
had about fifteen kilometers of wharf, which could
accommodate
vessels of all sizes. The Tanjong Pagar Terminal was the
port's
main gateway for containerized cargo. It had ten container
berths,
supported in 1988 by a fleet of twenty-six quay cranes,
sixty-seven
"transtainers," seventeen van carriers, and other types of
heavy
moving equipment. The seven container freight stations
were all
equipped with closed-circuit television to enhance fire
safety and
cargo security. A new billion-dollar container terminal
with five
container berths, four multipurpose berths, support
facilities, and
storage space for 8,500 twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEUs) was
being developed on a nearby island. The first berth was
scheduled
to be operational by 1992.
Keppel Wharves, the oldest conventional gateway,
handled mainly
containers and bulk cargo, such as cement, vegetable oil,
and
rubber. With four kilometers of sheltered deep-water
berths, Keppel
Wharves could accommodate twenty-two ocean-going vessels
and three
coasters at any one time. Pasir Panjang Wharves was also a
conventional gateway with facilities for coasters,
lighters,
barges, and ocean-going vessels. It had three deep-water,
ten
coastal, and forty-six lighterage berths. Sembawang
Wharves handled
primarily high-volume homogeneous cargo such as timber and
rubber.
Equipped with five berths, Sembawang also handled
containerized and
bulk cargo. Jurong Port, developed principally to serve
the
industries in the Jurong Industrial Estate, had twelve
berths.
Singapore's merchant fleet ranked fifteenth among the
principal
merchant fleets of the world. In late 1988, its 1,243
vessels
totaled 7.33 million gross registered tons and included
156 general
cargo ships, 150 oil tankers, 74 bulk carriers, 49
container ships,
and 12 passenger vessels. There were two vessels above
100,000
gross registered tons: a very-large crude carrier and an
ultralarge crude carrier.
Singapore also was noted for its ship-repair industry,
the
beginnings of which dated to colonial times. In 1968 the
government
turned the former British dockyard into the Sembawang
Shipyard and
built it into a commercial success.
Three major yards--Keppel, Sembawang, and Jurong--in
which the
government held a controlling stake, dominated the
industry,
accounting for about 90 percent of the S$1.1 billion
business in
1988. Many privately owned yards, of which the largest was
Hitachi
Zosen, split the remaining 10 percent of the business.
In 1989 the four major shipyards employed some 70,000
workers,
about 40 percent from overseas, mainly from Malaysia,
Thailand, and
Bangladesh. Despite the booming business of the late
1980s, the
shipyards faced problems of rising labor costs and
government
restrictions on importation of labor. As a result, a joint
venture
between Keppel and a shipyard near Madras, India, was
given
government approval in 1989, and the industry was
exploring the
possibility of joint-venture projects in other neighboring
countries. Government strategists reportedly favored an
eventual
merger between Sembawang and Jurong--which would overtake
Keppel to
become the largest ship-repairing group--as part of a move
to
consolidate the industry and begin directing it toward a
less
labor-intensive future.
Data as of December 1989
|
