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Why Ships Are Piling Up in Singapore
Why Ships Are Piling Up in Singapore
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Legendas (42)
0:01
Traffic is building in Singapore, but not on its roads.
0:05
Congestion is rising in the water around the island as
0:09
vessels -once bound for the Middle East - vie for space in its port.
0:13
So these ships aren't just stopping to refuel or to unload cargo,
0:17
some are dropping their anchors as they wait for the Iran war to end.
0:22
As congestion builds, ships experience longer lines, more delays, and higher costs.
0:28
For every day late, that's 20,000 container units on that ship that don't get offloaded
0:35
and won't get a next turn in the normal rotation. Every day counts.
0:42
Congestion at Singapore's port was up 35% at the end of March.
0:46
By the first week of April, the number of vessels waiting for a berth dropped.
0:50
However, waiting times increased from four to six days, and the number of
0:55
vessels steaming - or deliberately traveling at a slower speed to reach the port - rose to 260,
1:02
more than any other major port in the region.
1:05
If products cannot get to the Middle East and there needs to be a reroute,
1:10
going over Singapore to have more options for connectivity to send the cargo is a realistic
1:15
proposition when we look at vessel deployment schedules. But if too many have the same ideas and
1:21
all converge on Singapore at the same time, you'll start to see the number of containers sitting
1:27
idle at the port terminals rise and that will further cause congestion.
1:32
Other ports in Asia from Sri Lanka to China are even more congested as shipping
1:38
bottlenecks ripple across the continent. And experts say even if the war ends tomorrow,
1:43
the jam would take weeks to months to resolve.
1:47
Some ports are better prepared to handle a rush of business.
1:51
Singapore's port handled a record 44.5 million TEUs or 20-foot equivalent units in 2025.
1:59
But the city-state aims to increase this to 65 million TEUs in the next two decades,
2:04
as it moves its four terminals into one 20 billion Singapore dollar mega-port.
2:10
Tuas, for example, is a fully automated port and you know very well integrated,
2:14
right, and therefore that allows them to handle high throughput.
2:18
The Tuas Port officially opened in 2022 and now operates 12 berths. The
2:23
first of four construction phases is set to be completed next year. However, PSA Singapore,
2:29
the port's operator, said it's already the world's largest automated container port,
2:34
operating around the clock through the help of more than 350 automated guide vehicles,
2:40
or AGVs, that move containers between the wharf and the yard via underground pathways.
2:47
And a fleet of automated yard cranes deliver, stack,
2:51
and retrieve containers. Both are monitored remotely at a unified command center.
2:56
So when the Tuas Port is completed in the 2040s,
2:59
it will have 66 berths set out on an area of land that covers about 3300 football fields.
3:08
But will this be big enough?
3:11
Well, we don't know yet, right? Because this is like a projection for 2040. But certainly there's
3:15
enough, I'll say that there's enough headroom for growth. But certainly, if you look at the current
3:20
planning capacity, that would enable Singapore to continue to be that major transshipment hub.
3:25
Space to grow and adjust is critical to an industry navigating a future of
3:30
changing geopolitics, trade and demographics in Asia and beyond.
