Singapore continued to maintain its position as leading global bunker port in 2009 with a 4.2 percent increase in bunker sales.
The port also recorded positive results for vessel arrival tonnage and containers handled despite the decline in world trade and the Singapore Registry of Ships continued to grow in size, ranking amongst the top 10 worldwide.
The data was reflected in the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's (MPA) advance estimates of port indicators announced yesterday by Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr
Raymond Lim.
Bunker Sales
The total volume of bunkers sold in the Port of Singapore rose by 4.2 per cent to reach 36.4 million tonnes, compared to 34.9 million tonnes in 2008.
Please find below a table of annual bunker sales volumes in Singapore since 2001.
| Year | Volume (million tonnes) |
| 2001 | 20,351.6 |
| 2002 | 20,096.4 |
| 2003 | 20,809.0 |
| 2004 | 23,566.9 |
| 2005 | 25,479.1 |
| 2006 | 28,379.1 |
| 2007 | 31,546.0 |
| 2008 | 34,936.4 |
| 2009 | 36.400.0 |
Vessel Arrivals
Vessel arrivals in terms of shipping tonnage reached 1.78 billion gross tons (GT) in 2009, an increase of 10.1 percent from the 1.62 billion GT achieved in 2008. Container ships and tankers were the top contributors, accounting for 31.4 per cent and 29.6 percent of the total vessel arrival tonnage respectively.
Container and Cargo Throughput
Container traffic in 2009 totalled 25.9 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), a 13.5 percent decline from 29.9 million TEUs in 2008. Total cargo tonnage dipped correspondingly to 469.6 million tones, a 8.9% reduction.
The Singapore Registry of Ships
The Singapore Registry of Ships also achieved growth and increased by 4.4 percent or 1.9 million gross tons. The total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag was 45.6 million gross tons as of end December 2009.
Details of the Port of Singapore's other performance indicators - excluding bunker sales - in 2009 are below:
| Year |
Vessel Arrivals |
Container Throughput |
Cargo Throughput |
Registry |
| 2005 |
1.15 |
23.2 |
423.3 |
33.0 |
| 2006 |
1.31 |
24.8 |
448.5 |
34.8 |
| 2007 |
1.46 |
27.9 |
483.6 |
39.6 |
| 2008 |
1.62 |
29.9 |
515.3 |
43.7 |
| 2009 |
1.78 |
25.9 |
469.6 |
45.6 |
* Vessel Arrivals (billion gross tonnes)
* Container Throughput (million TEUs)
* Cargo Throughput (million tonnes)
* Singapore Registry of Ships (million gross tonnes)
