Ports able to meet short-term increases in demand: Minister

Singapore's ports are currently operating at about 85 percent of their combined maximum handling capacity, enough to meet any short-term increases in demand by shipping lines, said Senior Minister of State for Transport Chee Hong Tat on Thursday.

- Clement Yong

The ports' capacity will increase as more berths open in Tuas Port, he said, noting that Singapore handled a record-high container throughput of 37.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, in 2021.

Mr Chee was responding to Mr Saktiandi Supaat (Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC), who was concerned about Singapore's ability to cope with a normalization of global supply chains. He asked if there was a need to ensure the ports could handle more as soon as 2023.

Singapore's current maximum handling capacity per annum is 44 million TEUs, a unit of measurement that matches the standard dimensions of a container.