In signing up Japanese car carrier experts NYK and K Line to its car terminal ambitions, PSA has cemented Singapore’ s number one position, writes Wing Kah-goh
On average, Singapore attracts some 140,000 ship calls annually.Last year,these ships shifted some 448.5m tons of cargo through the port including 24.8m teu making it the busiest container port in the world once again. With its myriad terminals just about any ship can call here – from liquefied natural gas carriers, cruiseships, containerships, tankers to bulk carriers, you name it; they come to the global maritime crossroads that can boast moving one in five containers in the world.
Yet the port, which prides itself on its range of dedicated cargo-specific terminals, has never had a proper car terminal,with pure car/truck carriers ‘making do’by calling at PSA Singapore’s box facilities.
This is set to change with the April announcement that Nippon Yusen Kaisha, PSA Singapore Terminals and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) have agreed to enter a joint venture to operate Singapore’s first dedicated car terminal. The new venture, named Asia Automobile Terminal Singapore (AATS), will be operational by January 2009 and will use two berths at PSA’s Pasir Panjang Terminal.
PSA chief executive for Southeast Asia & Singapore Terminals, Kuah Boon Wee says:“We are honoured that both NYK and K Line have partnered PSA in making AATS the first joint-venture car terminal in Singapore. We are delighted that our customers see long-term value in Singapore as a transhipment hub for vehicles.
Together with all our partners and customers,we hope that this business will continue to grow moving ahead.” Singapore, which provides transhipping for finished automobiles for export from Asian countries, is a very important harbour in Asia for NYK and K Line’s finishedautomobile transport service.
In a statement, NYK said that by this venture the company would continue to develop its competitive network for the finished-automobile transport service that it offers through the Port of Singapore in order to best position itself to respond to demand in Asian countries, which it believes will increase rapidly in the future. Meanwhile, many expected Singapore to relinquish its container crown to the container juggernaught Shanghai this year, but the Lion Republic’s robust first quarter performance suggests it will stay at the top for another year. PSA Singapore and Jurong Port, handled 12% more containers in March than in the same month last year.
Preliminary estimates from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) showed Singapore’s terminals handled 2.3m teu, compared with 2m teu in the same month in 2006.
The March figures mean Singapore handled 6.6m teu in the first quarter of this year,14% more than in the same quarter last year. Shanghai moved 5.9m teu, up 28%, surpassing Hong Kong in the process for the first time, which saw throughput grow 2.3% to 5.5m teu.
PSA has consistently listened to its customers‘ needs and acted fast ever since it received its rude awakening from the Port of Tanjung Pelepas at the start of the decade with key clients Maersk and Evergreen hopping across the causeway.
This has seen dedicated berths be granted – most recently to MSC last year – and constant equipment upgrades, the most recent being the delivery of 46 units of Mercedes-Benz Actros Prime Movers and Trailers, worth more than S$10m (US$6.6m).
