High time Singapore had a new cruise terminal

Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 15 Mar 08;

THE scene at the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) at HarbourFront every weekend can be described in one word: chaotic.

The mass of bodies unloaded by ships congregates at the eight immigration counters. Dotting the snaking queues of day-trippers from Batam and Bintan are well-dressed cruise passengers looking disoriented and frazzled.

Silversea Cruises' regional director of Asia, Mr Melyvn Yap, frets that his passengers who pay US$200,000 (S$280,000) for a round-the-world trip have to squeeze cheek by jowl with the auntie who pays $300 for a two-day gambling cruise to nowhere.

'Why can we not be like our first-class Changi Airport? It has a separate terminal for the VIPs. There should be one for cruises too,' he said.

But at least the 17-year-old centre has a terminal building and airbridges allowing passengers to get on and off the ships comfortably. Over at the Pasir Panjang Container Terminal, where big ships drop anchor, passenger facilities are non-existent. Getting off the ship entails navigating a rickety gangway with no shelter from the elements.

It has been known for 10 years that Singapore's cruise infrastructure is inadequate. The SCC was spruced up twice, but it still has just two berths. Last year alone, it received over 800 ship calls.

The berths measure 310m and 270m long, paling in comparison to rivals in the United States and Europe. For example, Miami, the world's busiest cruise port, has terminals with berths up to 1,066m.

Not only is the SCC not long enough, it is also, well, not high enough. The cable-car lines between Mount Faber and Sentosa limit the height of ships that can dock to 52m.

Even established players such as Star Cruises are getting exasperated. Its two ships based here have had to call at Pasir Panjang at least once because SCC berths were full.

But operators of leviathans scoff at Pasir Panjang with its tent shelters on the wharves - hardly a royal welcome for passengers of a ship such as the Queen Elizabeth II, which stopped by on Monday on her last voyage.

It was the re-entry of Royal Caribbean Cruises, which brought a ship back to Singapore last year after a five-year hiatus, that forced the Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) hand.

STB chief Lim Neo Chian said at December's welcome party for Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody Of The Seas - which had to call at Pasir Panjang - that work on a new terminal will begin this year. To be sited at Marina South and to be ready by 2010, the terminal will fit ships of any size.

And it's about time. For people are taking to holidays on the high seas in a big way. The World Cruise Shipping Industry To 2020, published by independent Britain-based Ocean Shipping Consultancy, shows that passenger numbers rose from almost 10 million in 2000 to an estimated 13.6 million in 2005. That number is set to grow to 18 million by 2010, 22.6 million by 2015 and 27 million by 2020.

The Asian market represents a mere fraction of the global market, but it is unlikely to stay that way. Asia-Pacific passenger numbers are projected to grow from 1.07 million in 2005 to two million in 2015.

Said SCC president Cheong Teow Cheng: 'Asia will be the new playground for cruises because markets like the Caribbean are saturated.

'Asians from emerging economies like China and India will take to cruising in a big way in the years ahead.'

While there are over 30 cruise operators worldwide, three companies have control over threequarters of all cruise ships.

Carnival Corporation, which owns the premium Cunard line among others, is the biggest with 85 ships. Royal Carribean Cruises has a fleet of 35 and the Star Cruises Group counts 18 in its group. All three offer sailings to Asia as part of regional programmes or round-the-world trips.

The big boys are building even more leviathans. Of 30 ships to be delivered by 2010, 18 can take more than 3,000 passengers and five have room for more than 4,000. Royal Caribbean alone has 14 ships already built or on order that are bigger than Rhapsody Of The Seas. None of them would be able to call at the SCC. And this is just one cruise operator.

Will things change with the new terminal?

Much depends on whether other ports in the region also have the infrastructure to take in the big ships. Royal Caribbean's director of Asia-Pacific business development, Mr Kelvin Tan, noted that, at present, only Japan's Yokohama can do so.

The good news is that China's Shanghai terminal is now being constructed and will be ready this year. Hong Kong has one in the pipeline that will be built by 2012.

'Cruise terminals are complementary, not competitors,' Mr Tan added.

In the United States, the Cruise Line International Association estimated that the cruise industry brought US$35.7 billion in total economic benefits in 2006. Cruise lines and passengers' direct spending on US goods and services amounted to US$17.6 billion.

There is no data available for Singapore and the region. But the SCC's Mr Cheong has estimated that each round-the-world passenger can spend up to eight times more than a passenger on a short regional jaunt.

There's money to be made not just from well-heeled passengers, but also from being a home port for ships to fuel and load new goods. Star Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises spokesmen say they will consider deploying more ships here, given the new terminal.

'So we will consider bringing more and bigger ships here,' said one.