By the numbers: How the maritime industry performed in 2022

Last year, container throughput hit 37.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units.

The maritime industry kept afloat last year amidst challenges like global inflation pressures and supply chain disruptions.

Amongst the sector's achievements in 2022 is having more shipping companies in Singapore.

According to Chee Hong Tat, senior minister of State for Finance and Transport, there were more than 30 which had established or expanded their operations in Singapore last year; this number is 30% higher than the 2021 record. 

Given this, total business spending by shipping companies exceeded S$4.3 billion.

 The industry also made strides in terms of container, cargo throughput, vessel arrival tonnage and bunker sales.

In 2022, Singapore’s container throughput hit 37.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), the second-highest throughput on record. The 2022 figure, however, slightly declined by 0.7% YoY.

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In the same year, the Port of Singapore handled a total of 577.7 million tonnes of cargo. 

Meanwhile, vessel arrival tonnage hit 2.83 billion Gross Tonnage (GT) and the port registered 47.9 million tonnes of bunker sales.

Bunker sales last year included about 140,000 tonnes of biofuel blends over more than 90 biofuel bunkering operations, surpassing the 16,000 tonnes in Liquefied Natural Gas bunker sales.

Singapore also continued to rank as one of the top five largest ship registries globally, with the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag hitting close to  96 million GT, translating to a 4% YoY increase.