Our Core Business - Transhipment

What is transhipment? Think of the airport. Why do people fly to Singapore, to catch a connecting flight to London? Why don’t they fly direct from their home airport? It is because there are many flights a day from Singapore to London, with a choice of different airlines. If they wait at their own airport, there may only be one flight per week to London, with no other choice. It is the same with transhipment, where containers are transported by a vessel to an intermediate port like Singapore. Here, the containers are transferred to another ship bound for its final destination. With its strategic location, Singapore has an unrivalled connectivity. There are daily sailings from the Singapore port to every major port in the world. Many small feeder vessels bring containers to Singapore. Here, the containers get loaded onto a large vessel that will take all the containers to Europe, or America. It is much quicker than waiting for a direct ship. It also means far fewer journeys. Without transhipment, if each vessel connects to every port, the number of journeys will look like the above. If everyone tranships via Singapore, the number of journeys is dramatically reduced. Transhipping is quicker and more efficient than direct shipping. About 85 per cent of the containers that arrive in Singapore are transhipped to another port. Shipping lines use PSA for these modes of transhipment: Hub & Spoke (Main Line Operator to Feeder) Cross Strings (Main Line Operator to Main Line Operator)