Why Ships Are Piling Up in Singapore

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0:01Traffic is building in Singapore, but not on its roads.

0:05Congestion is rising in the water around the island as

0:09vessels -once bound for the Middle East - vie for space in its port.

0:13So these ships aren't just stopping to refuel or to unload cargo,

0:17some are dropping their anchors as they wait for the Iran war to end.

0:22As congestion builds, ships experience longer lines, more delays, and higher costs.

0:28For every day late, that's 20,000 container units on that ship that don't get offloaded

0:35and won't get a next turn in the normal rotation. Every day counts.

0:42Congestion at Singapore's port was up 35% at the end of March.

0:46By the first week of April, the number of vessels waiting for a berth dropped.

0:50However, waiting times increased from four to six days, and the number of

0:55vessels steaming - or deliberately traveling at a slower speed to reach the port - rose to 260,

1:02more than any other major port in the region.

1:05If products cannot get to the Middle East and there needs to be a reroute,

1:10going over Singapore to have more options for connectivity to send the cargo is a realistic

1:15proposition when we look at vessel deployment schedules. But if too many have the same ideas and

1:21all converge on Singapore at the same time, you'll start to see the number of containers sitting

1:27idle at the port terminals rise and that will further cause congestion.

1:32Other ports in Asia from Sri Lanka to China are even more congested as shipping

1:38bottlenecks ripple across the continent. And experts say even if the war ends tomorrow,

1:43the jam would take weeks to months to resolve.

1:47Some ports are better prepared to handle a rush of business.

1:51Singapore's port handled a record 44.5 million TEUs or 20-foot equivalent units in 2025.

1:59But the city-state aims to increase this to 65 million TEUs in the next two decades,

2:04as it moves its four terminals into one 20 billion Singapore dollar mega-port.

2:10Tuas, for example, is a fully automated port and you know very well integrated,

2:14right, and therefore that allows them to handle high throughput.

2:18The Tuas Port officially opened in 2022 and now operates 12 berths. The

2:23first of four construction phases is set to be completed next year. However, PSA Singapore,

2:29the port's operator, said it's already the world's largest automated container port,

2:34operating around the clock through the help of more than 350 automated guide vehicles,

2:40or AGVs, that move containers between the wharf and the yard via underground pathways.

2:47And a fleet of automated yard cranes deliver, stack,

2:51and retrieve containers. Both are monitored remotely at a unified command center.

2:56So when the Tuas Port is completed in the 2040s,

2:59it will have 66 berths set out on an area of land that covers about 3300 football fields.

3:08But will this be big enough?

3:11Well, we don't know yet, right? Because this is like a projection for 2040. But certainly there's

3:15enough, I'll say that there's enough headroom for growth. But certainly, if you look at the current

3:20planning capacity, that would enable Singapore to continue to be that major transshipment hub.

3:25Space to grow and adjust is critical to an industry navigating a future of

3:30changing geopolitics, trade and demographics in Asia and beyond.

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Why Ships Are Piling Up in Singapore

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