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The Port of Singapore picked up the Best Seaport in Asia title for the twentieth time, attesting to Singapore’s firm standing in the minds of the maritime community as a choice port of call and maritime centre. This prestigious international award was conferred upon Singapore, and received by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), at the 22nd Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards (AFSCA) organised by Cargonews Asia, a leading transport publication.

Receiving the award on behalf of the MPA, Capt Khong Shen Ping, Acting Chief Executive said, “We are greatly appreciative and honoured by the vote of confidence from our industry partners, who have reaffirmed Singapore as their port of choice in Asia. The MPA will continue to work with our maritime partners to ensure that Singapore remains a leading global transhipment hub port, distinguished by its competitiveness and quality of services.”

The votes for the award were cast based on a number of guiding criteria, such as having a cost competitive and container shipping-friendly regime, providing timely and adequate investment in port infrastructure to meet future demand, and facilitation of ancillary services, including logistics and freight forwarding. Voters include shipping lines, terminal operators, freight forwarders and shippers from across Asia.

The AFSCA awards are designed to recognise organisations for demonstrating leadership, as well as consistency in service quality, innovation, customer relationship management and reliability. It aims to identify the best cargo transportation players in the world, covering seaports, airports, shipping lines, rail operators, container terminal operators, logistics service providers and other players in the freight and supply chain industries.

The Port of Singapore continues to enjoy the good performance that it achieved last year, with strong growth registered on various fronts in the first quarter of this year. Shipping tonnage of vessel arrivals went up by 14.2 per cent compared to the same period last year to reach 393 million gross tons (GT). Singapore’s container throughput from Jan to Mar 08 climbed to 7.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit), an 11.4 per cent increase over the same period last year. The total cargo tonnage handled rose by 13.1 per cent year-on-year to 131.3 million tonnes. Bunker sales figures reached 8.6 million tonnes, a 14.5 per cent rise for the first quarter of 2008, versus the same period last year.