Singapore named world's best port by industry players

Generic photograph of containers at Tanjong Pagar Terminal, Keppel Terminal, Brani Terminal on Pulau Brani and Sentosa Cove as viewed from The Pinnacle@Duxton on Mar 04, 2021. - The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE, Oct 23 (dpa): Singapore was this week for the first time named "best global seaport," city-state authorities has announced.

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said the award, which was announced this week after a vote by cargo and logistics businesses, recognized the city-state's role in "keeping global supply chains running" during the coronavirus pandemic.

Many Asian manufacturing zones have been forced to cut output in recent months due to government-imposed restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

In turn, factories in Europe and elsewhere announced production cuts due to reduced supply of components from Asia, though exports from Singapore have largely held up in recent months.

Supply chains were also hampered earlier this year by the blocking of the Suez Canal by a container ship which had run aground.

Singapore is expanding and upgrading its port facilities, which, according to the World Shipping Council, were the world's second-biggest after Shanghai's in volume terms in 2020.

Singapore sits at the foot of the Malaysian peninsula where the Strait of Malacca meets the South China Sea, the conduit for cargo moving from Africa, Europe and the Middle East to China and Japan, the world's second and third biggest economies.

Earlier this year, Singapore also kept its position as the world's top shipping hub on the 2021 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development (ISCD) Index for the eighth consecutive year, as reported by The Straits Times.

The Republic was followed by London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Dubai.

The top five rankings were unchanged from the previous year, despite the pandemic-induced drop in global trade and business disruption in 2020, the Baltic Exchange, a global maritime market data provider, said in a statement on Sunday (July 11).

The ISCD Index, part of the annual Xinhua-Baltic Report, is published by the exchange in collaboration with Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

The index provides an independent ranking of the performance of the world's largest cities that offer port and shipping business services.

Singapore has consistently led the index, thanks to the size of its port, number of internationally focused shipbrokers, financiers, lawyers and insurers based here, and supportive government policies, according to the Xinhua-Baltic Report 2021. - dpa