The Port of Singapore says it is still the global leader in arrival tonnage & bunker sales, despite a slight drop in the latter.
In an uncertain global economy and the challenges faced by the global maritime industry last year, the Port of Singapore reports it has maintained its global lead in annual vessel arrival tonnage and bunker sales, and achieved good growth in container and cargo throughput.
For the first time, container throughput crossed the 30 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) milestone in 2012, a historic high for the Port of Singapore. The Singapore Registry of Ships also continued to grow in size and ranks among the top 10 worldwide.
The total volume of bunkers sold in the Port of Singapore in 2012 fell 1.2 per cent to register 42.7 million tonnes, compared to 43.2 million tonnes in 2011. Despite the decline in bunker sales, Singapore remained the world's top bunkering port.
Annual vessel arrival tonnage reached a record high of 2.25 billion gross tons (GT) in 2012, an increase of 6.1 per cent from the 2.12 billion GT achieved in 2011. Tankers and container ships were the top contributors, accounting for 30.8 per cent and 30.4 per cent of the total vessel arrival tonnage respectively.
The Singapore Registry of Ships did well last year. The total tonnage of ships under our register grew by 13.2 per cent or 7.7 million GT in 2012. As of end December 2012, the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag was 65.0 million GT, putting Singapore among the top 10 ship registries in the world.