Singapore's S$500m International Cruise Terminal breaks ground

Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia 2 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE: Singapore hopes to ride the wave of growth in the cruise industry with a new International Cruise Terminal which broke ground on Friday.

The facility at Marina South, costing S$500 million, comes as global demand for the cruise market is estimated to hit 27 million passengers by 2020 - a two-fold growth within a decade.

The cruise industry is still sailing smoothly despite the economic downturn. Global cruise passengers are expected to number 13.5 million this year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association based in the US.

Asia Pacific accounts for 7 per cent of the world's cruise market and Singapore wants to become a cruise hub.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) expects to welcome its one millionth cruise passenger by year-end - the highest in 10 years. In the first half of this year, passenger arrivals grew 20 per cent on-year to 540,000.

At the groundbreaking of the International Cruise Terminal, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said: "Since the Singapore Cruise Centre at HarbourFront commenced operations in 1991, Singapore's cruise passenger throughput has been rising steadily as evidenced by the average annual growth rate of 12 per cent in the last five years.

"In 2008, over 1,000 cruise ships called at Singapore, chalking up a passenger throughput of over 920,000."

By 2015, Singapore hopes the new terminal can host the world's largest Oasis-class cruise ships and attract 1.6 million cruise passengers. The terminal can handle 6,800 passengers at any one time and will double Singapore's berth capacity.

STB says greater efficiency and accessibility will allow passengers to disembark and depart from the terminal within 30 minutes.

The 28,000-square-metre terminal, equivalent to about three football fields, is one of the biggest in Asia. Reclamation work will start next month and when completed in 2011, it is expected to create 3,000 jobs in the tourism and related industries.

Observers said cruise passengers tend to spend about 30 per cent more on average, which could boost Singapore's economy.

Remy Choo, STB's deputy director of cruise, said: "Typically, you talk about cruise of about 7 days on a normal cruise ship. We are talking about someone who is prepared to spend about S$2,000 per head, compared to a normal tourist from the region who spends perhaps S$300, S$400 a head. So you are looking at customers who are prepared to spend even more."

The tourism board, which owns the terminal, will appoint an operator for the facility by year-end. STB said the tender was put out a week ago and will close on November 4.

- CNA/ir

Singapore's new cruise terminal likely to create over 3,000 jobs
Nisha Ramchandani Business Times 3 Oct 09;

THE International Cruise Terminal (ICT) at Marina South, which will cost about $450 million to $500 million to build, is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs in the tourism and related industries after it comes onstream in end-2011.

'It will spur business and job opportunities for travel agents and others in the tourism industry, work for our shipyards as well as new business opportunities for companies supporting the shipping industry,' said Singapore Tourism Board (STB) assistant chief executive Margaret Teo.

The project was pushed back by a year after some tweaking of the design - the waterfront promenade will now be built on reclaimed land rather than concrete - resulting in a delay.

'While the timeline is tight, we are confident we can finish the terminal by end-2011,' said JTC Corp's assistant CEO for technical and professional services Ong Geok Soo. JTC is the development agent.

The land reclamation and dredging works - among other things - will be jointly conducted by Penta-Ocean Construction, Toa Corporation and McConnell Dowell. The tender for the terminal operator has just been called and will close in November.

Meanwhile, things appear to be going swimmingly for Singapore's cruise industry, which has continued to grow despite the shaky state of the economy earlier this year.

'In the first half of 2009, despite the global economic downturn, we managed to achieve a 20 per cent growth in cruise arrivals compared with the same period last year,' said Lim Hng Kiang, Minister for Trade and Industry, during a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.

Last year, Singapore had a throughput of more than 920,000 passengers but is expected to reach the one-million mark by end-2009. STB has targeted 1.6 million cruise passengers per year by 2015.

The 28,000 sq m ICT will double Singapore's berth capacity from two to four, enabling more cruise ships to call on Singapore. It will be able to accommodate up to 6,800 passengers at any one time and will also feature an arrival and departure hall, as well as a ground transportation area. Passenger turnaround is expected to take about 30 minutes.

But perhaps the biggest bonus that the ICT offers is its deep waters, large turning basin and lack of height restrictions. This will allow it to cater to much bigger vessels, such as the Oasis-class ships.

Ships that are too big to stop at the Singapore Cruise Centre are now forced to anchor at the Pasir Panjang Terminal, as are smaller ships when berthing space is hard to come by during peak season.

Last year, over 20 ships docked at Pasir Panjang and this year, the number is likely to be in the 30-35 range, said STB.

Being forced to alight there is an inconvenience for cruise passengers, emphasised Chong Chee-Tut, chief operating officer of Star Cruise. Singapore's first purpose-built terminal will 'address that problem very well', he added.

Bigger capacity, faster clearance
To be ready by 2011, new cruise terminal can cater to big ships, speed up passenger processing
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 3 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE'S new $500 million cruise terminal at Marina South will have two berths that can accommodate the world's biggest cruise ships.

To be ready by 2011, the International Cruise Terminal (ICT) will also have state-of-the-art facilities that will enable passengers to clear immigration, security and luggage claims within half an hour.

Passengers at the existing HarbourFront cruise centre, by contrast, are sent on their way in about 45 minutes.

The ICT's bigger capacity will also mean it can handle up to 3,000 passengers in an hour, compared to HarbourFront's 2,500 passengers an hour.

At the ground-breaking ceremony for the new terminal yesterday, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, who was the guest of honour, said the ICT will help Singapore realise its ambition of becoming the region's cruise hub.

Key to this is the ability to allow bigger cruise ships to dock. The HarbourFront terminal is limited by height restrictions - it cannot accommodate liners that are more than 52m in height.

This rules out some of the bigger luxury ships such as Rhapsody Of The Seas and Queen Mary 2, which sail in as part of their round-the-world trips or for regional trips to Hong Kong, China or Vietnam.

Currently, such vessels are forced to dock at the Pasir Panjang Container Terminal, located about 5km away from the HarbourFront terminal.

This is a less than ideal situation, cruise operators said.

There are no proper embarkation and disembarkation facilities at the Pasir Panjang terminal, leading to safety problems as some elderly passengers have to negotiate the ship's gangway to enter and leave the ships. They also have to be ferried out of the terminal in shuttle buses.

Having well-heeled passengers on such liners get on and off at industrial areas also does not do much for Singapore's image, the operators said.

More importantly, the lack of facilities in Singapore means cruise operators do not want to deploy their bigger ships here. For example, Rhapsody Of The Seas has not been back since its first season here in 2007.

This means Singapore is losing out on opportunities to tap the fast-growing cruise industry.

According to data from the World Tourism Organisation and the Cruise Lines International Association, global cruise arrivals form the fastest-growing segment of the tourism market.

Ms Margaret Teo, the Singapore Tourism Board's (STB) assistant chief executive of the development group, said the Asia-Pacific region, which has only 7 per cent of the world's cruise market, has huge potential to grow.

A record one million cruise passengers are expected to arrive in Singapore by the end of the year, and STB is targeting 1.6 million cruise passengers by 2015.

Cruise operators, who have long complained that the lack of facilities is a big obstacle to the Republic's growth as a cruise hub, and have been lobbying for a new terminal for years, said they are glad the project is finally under way.

The ICT had been slated to open next year, but was delayed by a year because the design had to be updated.

Related link
Work on International Cruise Terminal at Marina South begins on the wild shores of singapore blog.