To ease the growing congestion at the world's largest container transshipment hub, Singapore's Port Authority (PSA) has reactivated Keppel Terminal's previously abandoned old berths and cargo yards, while also adding a large number of manpower to deal with the container backlog.
"Port congestion is once again plaguing the container market, with Singapore becoming the latest bottleneck," warned a report released by Asian container consultancy Linerlytica on Tuesday. The report noted that berthing delays at the world's second-largest container port are now as long as seven days, and the total capacity waiting for berthing has risen to more than 500,000 teu in recent days.
Shipping companies will continue to push for higher and higher freight rates.
"Severe congestion has forced some shipping companies to cancel their planned calls at the port of Singapore, which will exacerbate problems at downstream ports that will have to handle the extra volume," Linerlytica noted. These delays have also led to congestion of vessels.
"The increase in demand for container handling in Singapore was due to several container shipping lines abandoning subsequent sailings to catch the next schedule, unloading more containers in Singapore. The number of containers handled per vessel also increased," the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in an update on measures the Southeast Asian republic is taking to cope with container ship traffic.
In addition to the eight existing berths at Tuas Port, three new berths will be commissioned later this year. This will increase the port's overall handling capacity. PSA plans to accelerate the commissioning of these new berths to help increase overall container handling capacity in the short term.
Many other Asian ports, including Shanghai, Qingdao and Port Klang, are also experiencing congestion.