Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-Charge of Trade Relations,

Mr Chee Hong Tat, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport

Your Excellency Mr Choi Hoon, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Singapore

Permanent Sec Mr Loh Ngai Seng, Ministry of Transport

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

1     It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to mark the completion of Tuas Port Phase 1 reclamation works. 

2     And as most of you would know, this is also a special year for MPA as we celebrate our 25th anniversary.    

3     We have come far since our early years.

1. As a port, we expanded from our first container terminal at Tanjong Pagar, to Keppel Terminal, Brani Terminal and Pasir Panjang Terminals. And eventually to be consolidated in Tuas Port.
2. As a transit hub, more than 90% of our containers transit through Singapore to more than 600 ports & over 120 countries.
3. And as a maritime centre, we are home to more than 5,000 maritime establishments.

4     Trade is our lifeblood and that’s why we invest heavily to be ahead of the game, to be relevant. We invest to stay abreast of the latest technologies that can help us be competitive, be it on autonomous vessels, on decarbonisation and being green, or sustainable fuels. Its about being relevant for the future.

5     Tuas port is one of the key pillars to ensuring our future relevancy.

6     It took us four years of continuous planning and six years of engineering work and construction to be here today.

7     And teamwork is critical. At the peak of Phase 1’s reclamation, we had a team of close to 700 engineers and skilled technical personnel from MPA, Surbana Jurong and the DIAP-Daelim Joint Venture (DDJV) made up of 10 companies, working on the project on site.

8     The pandemic did not derail the team’s effort and I’m extremely proud that the Phase 1 reclamation was completed on time, meeting operational demands, despite internal and external curveballs thrown by the pandemic. And, as you will see in the launch video later:

1. In just three years, we built and installed 221 10-storey high gigantic caissons which stand among the world’s largest caissons built. It weights 15,000 tonnes or equivalent to about 8,000 cars stacked together. In all 8.6km of wharf length made up of caissons would have been constructed in phase 1.
2. We had the world’s largest grab dredger “Gosho”, with a grab capacity of 200m3, dredging the Tuas basins and Temasek Fairway.
3. We invested 34 million man-hours in this project, with over 1,600 machineries deployed for the works and partnered over 450 companies.  At the peak there were more than 2,000 workers on site.

9    As for the next step,

1. PSA is scheduled to commence operations of the first two berths at Phase 1 in the coming months.
2. Phase 2 reclamation works is also on track, and it alone will involve the construction of 9.1km of caissons. And we are moving ahead with plans for Phase 3.

Partnering Industry in 3Ds and tracking the future ahead

10    And in parallel to all this, MPA is partnering agencies and the industry to build the Tuas Port Ecosystem and prepare for future disruptions.

1. For example, we are preparing for the advent of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships, or MASS in short.  In fact we have started developing autonomous technologies with our key partners in the tech ecosystem culminating in the successful completion of three trials in port. MPA has also established the MASSPorts Network to align standards for MASS to seamlessly inter-operate across ports

11    We will also make Tuas Port green. 

1. We used clay from the sea beds for land reclamation and now, together with the National Environment Agency, we will explore the use of mix materials from Semakau land fill to reclaim part of the land for Tuas Port;
2. We are also looking into the use of greener concrete with reduced embodied carbon contents. If this works out, it will align us closer with the Nation’s Green Plan 2030.

12    We are also investing heavily to make our port safe. We are developing our Next Generation Vessel Traffic Management System (NGVTMS) which will open new horizons for maritime safety, security and efficiency.

13    Let me conclude by thanking all our partners both private and public for sharing the same vision as us and embarking on this journey to make it a reality. With you by our side, we are ready to embrace the challenges that may come our way and I am fairly certain that the future of Maritime Singapore is bright!

14    Thank you.