The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) of Singapore is charged with developing and promoting Singapore as an international maritime center and global hub port and with expanding the Port of Singapore's maritime interests.
PSA Building
460 Alexandra Road (near Labrador Park MRT Station), Singapore. The PSA Building is home to PSA International, the Singapore Ministry of Transport and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
Photo by Thaejas
MPA works directly with shipping companies and port operators to regulate port activities and create a one-stop-shop in the Port of Singapore for the global maritime community. About 140 thousand vessels call at the Port of Singapore each year, making it the world's busiest port by shipping tonnage.
As one of the world's top bunkering ports, the Port of Singapore lifts about 30 million tons of bunkers every year. The Port of Singapore also offers a wide range of marine services. The Port of Singapore is a major container transshipment hub. It is also the third busiest petrochemical refinery in the world, even though Singapore does not produce any oil.
The MPA aims to attract ship owners, operators, and providers of maritime services to establish operations in the Port of Singapore. To that end, the government has created a pro-business environment that helps business start-ups and existing businesses grow. To increase maritime services in the Port of Singapore, the MPA works closely with ship brokers and charters, maritime law practices, banks, marine insurers and other government agencies in Singapore. More than 4200 foreign multi-national corporations have regional operations in the Port of Singapore, and more than 26 thousand international companies have offices there.
Port of Singapore
Photo by William Cho
The Port of Singapore has Southeast Asia's most technologically advanced ship-building and -repair facilities, dominating the world's jack-up rig-building market and holding a major share of the worldwide floating production storage and offloading conversion market.
In 2010, the Port of Singapore handled a total of over 503 million tons of cargo including 289.7 million tons of containerized cargo in 28.4 million TEUs, 177.1 million tons of oil, 24 million tons of conventional cargo, and 12.6 million tons of nonoil bulk cargo.
More than 182 thousand vessels called in the Port of Singapore. Of these, 19 thousand were container ships, 21.4 thousand were tankers, 12.2 thousand were bulk carriers, 4.6 thousand were freighters, and 4.1 thousand were coasters. In addition, 645 ocean-going vessels carried passengers and 31.1 thousand were regional ferries. About 12 thousand barges, 12.6 thousand tugs, and 9.7 thousand miscellaneous vessels called in the Port of Singapore.
Port of Singapore Anchorages
- Port of Singapore Eastern Sector
The Port of Singapore's anchorages are divided into three sectors (Eastern, Western, and Jurong), each with its own function.
Changi Airport Fuel JettyPhoto by Teofilo
In the Eastern Sector of the Port of Singapore, the Changi General Purposes Anchorage is for vessels that need immigration clearance and are using the shipyards and facilities in the East Johor Strait. The Port of Singapore's Changi Barge Temporary Holding Anchorage is used by barges carrying sand and granite that are waiting to go to an approved aggregate terminal in the East Johor Strait.
In the Port of Singapore's Eastern Sector, the Man-of-War Anchorage is for visiting warships. The Eastern Explosives Lighters Anchorage is for small vessels carrying explosives. The Port of Singapore's Eastern Bunkering Anchorages A, B, and C are for vessels using the Special Bunkering Anchorage Scheme. Eastern Special Bunkering A, B, and D Anchorages in the Port of Singapore are for vessels under arrest, that have been damaged, vessels needing repairs, and other vessels.
Port of Singapore's Eastern Sector Petroleum A and B Anchorages are used by vessels loaded with petroleum and non-gas free vessels. There is an Anchorage for Laid-up Vessels in the Port of Singapore. The Small Craft Anchorage is used by harbor tugs, barges, pontoons, fishing vessels, and other small craft.
The Port of Singapore's Eastern Anchorage if for general purposes like water, stores, bunkers, and vessels waiting for berth. The Eastern Anchorage is used by non-gas free petroleum carriers, liquefied petroleum gas carriers, liquefied natural gas carriers, and chemical carriers. Eastern Holding A and B Anchorages in the Port of Singapore are for vessels directed by the Port Master. Eastern Holding C Anchorage is for port limit tankers waiting to service vessels located in the Keppel Harbor.
Sultan Shoal Lighthouse
Photo by LionFlyer
- Port of Singapore Western Sector
The Port of Singapore's Western Sector contains the Western Quarantine and Immigration Anchorage for vessels that must be quarantined or that need immigration clearance. The Western Anchorage in the Port of Singapore is for general purposes like those taking on stores, water, or bunkers or those vessels other than non-gas free petroleum carriers, liquefied natural gas carriers, liquefied petroleum gas carriers, and chemical carriers that are waiting for berth facilities in the Western Sector.
The Western Sector in the Port of Singapore contains Western Petroleum A and B for vessels carrying petroleum and non-gas-free vessels and tankers. The A Anchorage is also for tankers of 10 thousand GT or less. The B Anchorage is also for tankers of more than 10 thousand GT requiring immigration clearance. The Selat Pauh Anchorage in the Port of Singapore is used by vessels under arrest, laid-up vessels, and other vessels approved by the Port Master. The Western Holding Anchorage is also for vessels directed there by the Port Master.
The Port of Singapore's Raffles Reserved Anchorage in the Western Sector is used for lash ship operations, vessels that have been damaged, or vessels needing emergency repairs. The Sudong Special Purpose Anchorage is for very large crude carriers greater than 75 thousand GT that need immigration clearance. The Sudong Explosive Anchorage in the Port of Singapore is for vessels or small craft that are loading or unloading or that are in transit carrying explosives or Group 1 dangerous goods.
The Western Sector in the Port of Singapore also contains Sudong Bunkering A and B Anchorages are used for vessels taking bunkers using the Special Bunkering Anchorage Scheme and other vessels with prior permission of the Port Master. Finally, the Sudong Holding Anchorage is a temporary holding anchorage for vessels directed there by the Port of Singapore Port Master.
- Port of Singapore Jurong Sector
The West Jurong Anchorage in the Port of Singapore is for vessels awaiting berths at the West Jurong Fairway or the Pesek Basin and for vessels under repair. The Anchorage is also for use by special vessels, tugs, and barges requiring immigration clearance. The Jurong Sector in the Port of Singapore also contains anchorage for Very Large Crude Carriers.
The LNG/LPG/Chemical Gas Carriers Anchorage in the Port of Singapore is carriers of non-gas free liquefied petroleum gas, liquefied natural gas, and chemicals as well as tankers that require immigration clearance. The Port of Singapore's Tuas Petroleum Holding Anchorage is for port limit tankers waiting to service vessels in the Port of Singapore Jurong Sector or for vessels awaiting berth facilities in the Pesek Basin or the West Jurong Fairway as directed by the Port Master.
Port of Singapore Terminals
Three commercial terminal operators licensed by MPA can accommodate all vessel types in the Port of Singapore. They are PSA Corporation Limited, Jurong Port Pte Limited, and the Singapore Cruise Centre Pte Limited. PSA Singapore manages most of the container-handling in the Port of Singapore, and Jurong Port is the terminal operator for bulk and conventional cargoes. The Port of Singapore Cruise Centre is the operator licensed by MPA to operate the Port of Singapore's passenger terminal.
The Port of Singapore contains three public landing places. Each of these landing points has immigration and customs facilities, shops and eating outlets, and launch/ferry services. The West Coast Pier serves the public as it moves to/from ships at the Port of Singapore's western anchorages. Offering facilities for rent, the Marina South Pier caters to the public traveling to/from the eastern anchorages in the Port of Singapore. In the northern sector, the Changi Point Ferry Terminal serves the public traveling to/from the northern sector's outlying islands.
Keppel Terminal
Photo by Calvin Teo
Container Terminals
PSA Singapore Terminals manages four container terminals that are operated as one integrated facility in the Port of Singapore. The terminals include 54 berths located at Tanjong Pagar, Brani, Pasir Panjang, and Keppel. The newest terminal is the Pasir Panjang Terminal, designed to serve mega container vessels that carry 13 thousand TEUs and more. The quay cranes are capable of reaching across 22 container rows. The Port of Singapore Pasir Panjang Terminal is equipped with state-of-the-art quay cranes that have been used to serve the biggest container vessel in the world, the Emma Maersk.
PSA Singapore Terminals is PSA International's flagship terminal, and it handled almost 27.7 million TEUs of containerized cargo in 2010. PSA Singapore Terminals hands about 17% of the world's container transshipment throughput and about 5% of the world's container throughput. The PSA Singapore Terminals contains more than 6500 reefer points and handled some 1.2 million TEUs of reefers in 2010. PSA Singapore Terminals has sailings to every major world port on a daily basis, shipping goods to/from 600 ports around the world. In 2010, PSA Singapore Terminals received the Lloyd's List Asia Award for "Container Terminal Operator of the Year" for the tenth time.
- Pasir Panjang Terminal
Pasir Panjang Lighter JettyPhoto by Sengkang
The Pasir Panjang Terminal in the Port of Singapore is about seven kilometers (4.3 mile) west of the other container terminals in Keppel Harbor. Construction began in 1993, and the first four berths began operating in 1998 with an additional two berths opening in 2000. The Port of Singapore estimated that the Pasir Panjang Terminal would increase PSA Terminal's capacity by 18 million 20-foot TEUs by the time it was completed.
Pasir Panjang Terminal's Phase 1 consists of six berths with total quay length of 1.9 thousand meters (6.2 thousand feet). Covering 71 hectares, the Phase 1 Pasir Panjang Terminal is equipped with 19 quay cranes.
The Port of Singapore's Pasir Panjang Terminal Phase 2A included four berths with total quay length of 1700 meters (5.6 thousand feet). Occupying 63 hectares, the Phase 2A berths are equipped with 19 quay cranes and have capacity to handle over four thousand TEUs. Phase 2B at Pasir Panjang Terminal contains four berths with total quay length of 1246 meters (4.1 thousand feet).
Covering 56 hectares, Phase 2B at the Port of Singapore's Pasir Panjang Terminal is equipped with 16 quay cranes and has capacity to handle 2800 TEUs of containerized cargo. Phase 2C at Pasir Panjang contains seven berths with capacity for 5600 TEUs, and Phase 2D has five berths. Both Phase 2C and 2D were under construction at the time of writing.
- Brani Terminal
The Port of Singapore's Brani Terminal has nine berths with a total quay length of 2629 meters (8.6 thousand feet). Covering 79 hectares, the Brani Terminal in the Port of Singapore is equipped with 29 quay cranes.
- Cosco-PSA Terminal
The Cosco-PSA Terminal in the Port of Singapore has two berths with total quay length of 720 meters (2.4 thousand feet) that can handle over one thousand TEUs of containerized cargo. The Cosco-PSA Terminal covers an area of 22.8 hectares.
- Keppel Terminal
Keppel TerminalPhoto by Chensiyuan
The Port of Singapore's Keppel Terminal contains 14 berths with total quay length of 3220 meters (10.7 thousand feet). The Keppel Terminal covers 96 hectares.
- Tajong Pagar Terminal
Tajong Pagar Terminal in the Port of Singapore has eight container berths with a total quay length of 2320 meters (7.6 thousand feet). Covering 80 hectares, the Port of Singapore's Tajong Pagar Terminal is equipped with 27 quay cranes.
Bulk and Breakbulk Terminals
- Jurong Port
The Port of Singapore's Jurong Port is the main port for bulk and conventional cargo serving Singapore and the surrounding region. Jurong Port handles a variety of cargoes that include cement, copper slag, steel products, project cargo, and a wide range of other cargoes requiring the Port of Singapore's huge network of pipelines and conveyor systems. The London Metal Exchange has accredited the Port of Singapore's Jurong Port as an excellent storage and transshipment hub for metals cargoes. In 2009, the Port of Singapore's Jurong Port handled about 13.5 million tons of cargo and 720 thousand 20-foot TEUs of containerized cargo in addition to conventional cargoes.
Covering a total of 152 hectares, the Port of Singapore's Jurong Port contains 23 multi-purpose berths with total quay length of 4547 meters (14.9 thousand feet). Jurong Port covers an area of 28 hectares in its Non-free Trade Zone and 124 hectares in its Free Trade Zones. Jurong Port in the Port of Singapore manages 30 conventional berths and two roll-on/roll-off berths of more than 5.6 thousand meters (18.5 thousand feet) in length with alongside maximum depth of 15.7 meters (51.5 feet). The Port of Singapore's Jurong Port can accommodate vessels to 150 DWT. Jurong Port operates a total 39.3 acres of Free Trade Zone warehouses and 3.8 acres of Non-Free Trade Zone warehouses.
- Sembawang Terminal
Handling general cargoes, Sembawang Terminal in the Port of Singapore contains seven berths with total quay length of 1188 meters (3.9 thousand feet) and alongside depths ranging from 9.2 meters (30 feet) to 12 meters (39 feet).
RO/RO Terminals
- Asia Automobile Terminal
PSA Singapore Terminals operates a dedicated car terminal at PPT and is fast becoming a vehicle transshipment hub for the region, handling about one million vehicles annually. In January 2009, Singapore's first dedicated car terminal, the Asia Automobile Terminal (Singapore), began operations. It is a joint venture of PSA Singapore Terminals, NYK, and "K" Line.
Cruise Terminals
The Singapore Cruise Centre includes the Port of Singapore's award-winning cruise terminal and three ferry terminals. The Singapore Cruise Centre is proud to have received 19 international awards in its 19 years of operation. The Cruise Center also manages commercial space on the premises and offers consultant services in the cruise and ferry terminal operations field as well as tourism development. In 2010, the 3.2 acre Port of Singapore Cruise Centre welcomed a total of 4.5 million cruise and ferry passengers.
Marina South Pier
Photo by Terence Ong
The Port of Singapore's Cruise Centre at Harbourfront Centre is undergoing a major revitalization project that is optimizing the terminal's operational space, revising the terminal's retail and commercial mix, upgrading terminal hardware and software, and creating a festive garden-themed atmosphere.
The first phase of the renovation effort for the Port of Singapore Cruise Centre began in 2011. It includes the Level 1 Arrival Hall, the Level 2 check-in counters for cruises, Lobby D toilets on Levels 1 and 2, and the former Xin food court. The complete revitalization program is scheduled to be completed in early 2012.
- International Passenger Terminal (IPT)
Major cruise lines use the Port of Singapore's International Passenger Terminal, including Royal Caribbean International, Carnival, Holland America, Silversea, Cunard, and Star Cruises among many others. In 2010, 34 cruise lines operated more than 640 vessel calls that carried over a million passengers to the Port of Singapore. The IPT in the Port of Singapore has two berths. The CC01 berth is 310 meters (94.5 feet) long with alongside depth of 12 meters (3.7 feet). The CC02 berth is 270 meters (82.3 feet) long with alongside depth of 11 meters (3.4 feet).
- Ferry Terminals
The Port of Singapore's Regional Ferry Terminal has six berths that handle vessels traveling to/from destinations on the Indonesian islands of Batam and Karimun.
The Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal in the Port of Singapore has four berths serving vessels traveling to/from destinations in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Pasir Panjang Ferry TerminalPhoto by Sengkang
The Port of Singapore's Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal has four berths that carry local workers commuting to/from the offshore industrial islands of Singapore.
Port Services
PSA Marine has two primary purposes: pilotage and towage. Performing over 240 thousand jobs each year, PSA Marine employs about 230 experienced harbor pilots and 50 harbor tugs. Outside the Port of Singapore, PSA Marine has towage services in Hong Kong, China, India, and Southeast Asia.
PSA Marine's towage services include more than 100 thousand tug moves in the Port of Singapore each year. Vessels that use the towage service include very mega container ships; large crude carriers; floating production, storage and offloading vessels; and oil rigs.
PSA Marine's pilotage service in the Port of Singapore supports over 150 thousand vessel movements per year. Complex information technology and communications systems support the work of PSA Marine's highly professional and experienced pilots.
PSA Marine provides pilotage service in support of more than 150,000 vessel movements annually. A feat made possible by PSA Marine's professional and experienced harbor pilots and our sophisticated IT and communications systems.
The Port of Singapore's Keppel Smit Towage Private Limited is a joint venture between Smit Singapore Pte Limited and Keppel Shipyard Limited. The main function of Keppel Smit Towing is operating its fleet of tugs ranging from 1600 to 4500 bhp that provide marine support services throughout the Asia Pacific region.
Keppel Smit provides a range of services that include berthing/unberthing/handling of vessels and tankers that include very large crude carriers; ultra large crude carriers; floating production, storage and offloading vessels; floating, storage, and offloading vessels; and liquefied natural gas carriers.
Keppel Smit positions oil rigs, tows floating cranes and barges, and tows out and loads offshore structures and platforms. It loads and unloads vessels, rigs, and project cargoes from semi-submersible heavy lift ships and handles ship-to-ship transfer operations. The Port of Singapore's Keppel Smit shifts immobilized ships at the Port of Singapore's anchorages, stands by at disable vessels, and undertakes single-point mooring and unmooring operations.
Other Keppel Smit services in the Port of Singapore include firefighting, anti-pollution clean-ups, towage to nearby ports, and escorting ships for safe passage through the Malacca and Singapore Straits.
In 2000, Keppel Smit and Maju Maritime merged operations to create a fleet of 57 vessels ranging from 1600 to 5600 bhp. The combined services provide harbor assistance, marine support, and coastal towage services.
Jurong Marine Services is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, a leading marine engineering company. In the Port of Singapore, Jurong Marine provides barge and tug services for many sea transportation projects. Tugboats are high-performing vessels in the range of 330 bhp to 3200 bhp.
Specific services provided by the Port of Singapore's Jurong Marine Services include berthing/ unberthing and docking/undocking all types of vessels. Jurong Marine also undertakes barging operations, moving rigs, and providing mooring services. It also provides floating crane services capable of handling up to 1500 tons.
Marina Offshore operates a young fleet of tugboats in the Port of Singapore that range from 1000 bhp to 3200 bhp. Marine Offshore also has barges of from 70 to 100 meters (230 to 330 feet). Their 24-Hour Communications Centre has state-of-the-art facilities that assure quick and accurate responses. This one-stop center handles tug orders and vessel status information for their clients.
Review and History Port Commerce Cruising and Travel Satellite Map Contact Information
