Being invited to the 40th floor of PSA Building in Singapore was a unique experience. Here, one can enjoy the most impressive of views of the busy port.
The PSA Building, which was officially opened in 1987, overlooks the entire port. We are looking at the world’s largest transhipment hub PSA Singapore Terminals (PSA), where a staggering volume of 27.1 million teu were handled last year – 85 per cent being transhipment. We quickly gave up counting the number of vessels to be seen in the port. “Singapore handles a high volume of containers and I am confident that we have the capacity to cater for any future increase,” says Kuah Boon Wee, CEO of PSA Southeast Asia and Singapore Terminals.” He projects that the port’s total capacity will grow to some 35 million teu by 2009.
“We are adding new berths and cranes to handle the projected growth,” says Kuah. “Today we move one out of five transhipment containers in the world and our growth rate was some 13 per cent from 2006 to 2007.
“Last year, PSA also handled more than a million new cars,” adds Kuah and this is an example of the diversity of the goods shipped through Singapore.
PSA Singapore Terminals operates four container terminals – at Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani and Pasir Panjang. The terminals operate as one integrated facility, aided by a new elevated six-lane expressway that ensures the easy movement of containers from one part of the port to the other. Ten new container berths are being added at the Pasir Panjang Terminal so that by 2009 PSA Singapore Terminals will have a total capacity of 35 million teu.
The new berths and cranes are constructed at the Pasir Panjang Terminal, PSA’s most advanced terminal. Here berths up to 16 metres deep have super post-Panamax quay cranes able to reach across 22 rows of containers. The new 40-foot tandem lift quay cranes are able to accommodate the new generation of mega container vessels. The terminal’s remote-controlled Overhead Bridge Crane System (OHBC) allows each operator at the control centre to handle up to six cranes at any one time, instead of just one crane.
Presently, 200 of the world’s shipping lines call at PSA Singapore Terminals, offering connections to 600 ports in 123 countries. This includes daily sailings to every major port in the world.
We were invited into the heart of the operations of the Singapore container port to see how it efficiently handles the high container volumes. The port operators plan their work using highly sophisticated computer systems. At the heart of PSA’s IT and technology infrastructure are the CITOS® and PORTNET® systems. CITOS®, or Computer Integrated Terminal Operating System, commands and controls the highly complex transhipment operations in PSA’s four container terminals. PORTNET®, the world’s first nationwide business-to-business shipping e-community, provides integrated services to shipping lines, hauliers, freight forwarders, shippers and local government agencies operating in Singapore.
When asked to comment on the competition facing PSA Singapore Terminals, Kuah says, “We believe that Singapore will continue to play a major role as the world’s largest transhipment hub and we will do our best to serve our customers well.”
As the port operator of choice in the world’s gateway hubs, PSA is ‘The World’s Port of Call’. With its flagship operations in PSA Singapore Terminals and PSA HNN, PSA International participates in 28 port projects in 16 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas, with a global capacity of 111 million teu over 66 km of quay length.