First phase of mega Singapore port project on track for 2021 launch

DL Holdings

23/04/2019 08:30

By Fathin Ungku
    SINGAPORE, April 23 (Reuters) - Singapore on Tuesday said
its plans to build the world's biggest container terminal in a
single location were on track, as it held a ceremony to mark a
milestone in the initial construction phase of the mega-project.
    Tuas Terminal is set to open progressively from 2021, six
years after work began, and it is expected to be capable of
handling 65 million twenty-foot long shipping containers per
annum when fully completed in 2040.
    Once completed, the terminal is slated to become the world's
largest container terminal in a single location, said Quah Ley
Hoon, chief executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of
Singapore. 
    "This will strengthen our Global Hub Port status, and more
importantly, allow us to plug into the growing intra-Asia trade
and global supply chain," Quah said.
    The ports authority said the first of four construction
phases - which alone covers an area equivalent to 383 football
fields - is on schedule to be completed in 2021.  
    Officials and media gathered at the site on the industrial
west of the island on Tuesday to witness the installation of the
final caisson, a retaining structure used to build the wharf in
the first phase of the multi-billion dollar scheme. 
    Shanghai is currently the world's busiest container port
handling over 40 million shipping containers in 2018, according
to industry data.
    Phase one of the Singapore project is being constructed by a
joint venture of DIAP, a Singaporean subsidiary of Belgian
dredging firm DEME, and South Korea's Daelim Industrial
 000210.KS . 

 (Reporting by Fathin Ungku, Writing by John Geddie; Editing by
Rashmi Aich)
 ((John.Geddie@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6403 5578; Reuters
Messaging: john.geddie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))