Singapore’s US$14 billion mega-port aims to solve shipping chaos
- The world’s largest automated port, to be completed by 2040, will double the existing space and feature drones as well as driverless vehicles
- Ports must add capacity and speed as the pandemic changed the nature of global supply chains, and Asia faces obstacles getting goods to US and Europe
As the world’s economies struggle to untangle unprecedented congestion in global supply chains, one of the world’s busiest ports is backing an ambitious modernisation plan to provide solutions.
It’s becoming more urgent for ports to add capacity and speed as the pandemic has changed the nature of global supply chains. The just-in-time system for shipping has broken down as exporters in Asia face obstacles getting goods transported to customers in the US and Europe, and the situation has only worsened this year with Covid-19 lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine.
Ports are the most visible choke points in the US$22 trillion arena for merchant trade, and a long-overdue transformation will require tackling a host of problems. Terminals are constrained by fading technology and limited space, while inefficiencies are compounded by containers piling up at gardens and a short supply of workers and trucks.
Because it is located in the Strait of Malacca, Singapore is a regular pit stop on container routes that connect Asian factories to consumers in Europe. The port, which handled the most trans-shipped cargo in the world in 2020, has come through the pandemic in better shape than most of its peers.