Infrastructure and Logistics

Enhancing our connectivity to the world

Singapore’s strategic location facilitates efficient trade and transportation. Our extensive connectivity provides access to international markets across Asia and the world. Over the years, we have anchored our status as a leading maritime and aviation hub:

• Singapore was named the Leading Maritime City for the past six iterations of the Leading Maritime Cities of the World report [PDF, 9.1MB] by DNV and Menon Economics (2012 to 2024). In 2024, Singapore ranked first in three out of five categories – Shipping, Ports and Logistics, and Attractiveness and Competitiveness.

• Our sea port set several records in 2023:

  • Annual vessel arrival tonnage in our sea port crossed three billion gross tonnage for the first time in 2023.

  • Singapore’s container throughput reached a new high of 39.0 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2023.

• Singapore Changi Airport has consistently ranked among the top three in Skytrax’s World’s Best Airport awards. Its extensive network connects to over 420 cities through more than 120 airlines. In 2023, passenger traffic was at 58.9 million, which was an increase of 83% from 2022, but about 86% of the pre-COVID traffic recorded in 2019.

• For air cargo, 1.74 million tonnes were handled in 2023, a 6.1% decrease from 2022. This was against the backdrop of a decrease in global air cargo demand in 2023 [PDF, 442 KB], due to factors such as geopolitical instability and high inflation.
  

Strengthening our competitive advantage through capacity building and innovation

To keep our maritime and aviation hubs competitive, we planned for sufficient capacity to capture future demand.

• The expanded Changi Airport Terminal 2, reopened in November 2022, increased Changi’s annual capacity to 90 million passengers across all four terminals. When Terminal 5 is completed in the mid-2030s, it will add another 50 million passengers to Changi Airport's annual capacity.

• When completed in the 2040s, Tuas Port will be the world’s largest automated container terminal, with a handling capacity of 65 million TEUs. Nine berths have been in operation as at July 2024, with two more commencing operations by end-2024.

We optimised the productivity and resilience of our infrastructure through innovation and digitalisation. These included:

Maritime

• Establishing a single point of clearance for vessel, immigration and port health clearances, and booking marine services, through DigitalPort@SG^TM from 2020. This has helped streamline vessel, immigration and port health clearances, saving the industry up to 100,000 manhours per year.

• Reducing waiting time and streamlining processes for shipping lines and services through innovative solutions. These included the Just-In-Time (JIT) Planning and Coordination platform introduced in October 2023 to reduce vessels’ idle time at port and improve the efficiency of vessel journeys through our ports, and digital bunkering to make bunkering of vessels safer, more efficient, and more transparent.

• Providing full Maritime 5G coverage in our anchorages, fairways, terminals, and boarding grounds by 2025. This will accelerate the development and deployment of new digital applications such as remotely assisted pilotage advisory, digital bunkering, delivery drones, and telemedicine, to improve service delivery to vessels in our port.

Aviation

• Transforming traditional processes to improve efficiency and increase worker productivity. Following a successful trial supported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore since 2020, dnata has partnered SpeedCargo to scale up the deployment of Computer Vision technology in SpeedCargo’s CargoEye and Assemble in 2023. This has allowed dnata to accurately capture the dimensions and images of air cargo as well as digitally plan and build optimal cargo loads, replacing the previous approach of manual measurement and physical sighting processes.

Balancing environmental sustainability and business competitiveness

We sought new ways to reduce carbon emissions and be sustainable, while still facilitating large cargo volumes.

In 2024, we published the Sustainable Air Hub Blueprint [PDF, 2.3 MB] which sets out Singapore’s medium-term and long-term sustainability targets, and concrete steps to decarbonise Singapore’s aviation sector while remaining competitive.

For the maritime sector, we stepped up decarbonisation efforts to meet domestic and international targets. These included:

• Supporting the decarbonisation of the domestic harbour craft sector by facilitating the transition to electric harbour craft. Since 2024, we partnered with the industry and Institutes of Higher Learning to optimise designs of new electric harbour crafts, thereby reducing their cost. To accelerate the adoption of electric harbour crafts, we worked with financial institutions and insurance providers since 2024 to expand financing and insurance solutions, such as through the expanded Enterprise Financing Scheme – Green.

• Developing capabilities to offer a range of alternative fuels, including zero- or near-zero-emission fuels for international shipping. In addition to the existing availability of Liquefied Natural Gas and biofuel bunkering at our port, we are working with the industry to enable the provision of alternative fuels such as methanol and ammonia/hydrogen in our port.

• Establishing the Maritime Energy Training Facility in April 2024 to equip the maritime workforce with the skills to handle new fuels safely and efficiently. By the 2030s, the facility aims to train around 10,000 maritime personnel, including seafarers and shore-based personnel.
  

Read more: Environment and Sustainability | Economic Opportunities

Building future-ready digital infrastructure

Our digital infrastructure development is highly regarded globally. We ranked second for connectivity in Economist Impact’s Global Digital Cities Index 2022 and first for technology infrastructure in the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Yearbook 2024. [PDF, 6.4 MB]

• In June 2023, we launched the Digital Connectivity Blueprint (DCB) which charts our digital infrastructure plans over the next decade. Under the DCB, we will invest ahead of demand to ensure that our digital infrastructure is future-ready. This will better position Singapore to leverage emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems, and enable businesses to innovate and capitalise on opportunities in the evolving digital landscape.

• As announced in February 2024, we will progressively invest up to $100 million to upgrade the Nationwide Broadband Network infrastructure, enabling broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps by 2028. Together with our nationwide 5G standalone network and upgraded wireless network standards, this will allow for seamless end-to-end connectivity across our broadband, mobile, and Wi-Fi networks. Households and businesses will be able to access high-speed connectivity with minimal delay and leverage advanced digital technologies and applications that require higher bandwidth.

With 95% nationwide outdoor coverage on our first two 5G standalone networks as at December 2022, we have enabled innovations in areas such as industrial automation and autonomous operations of unmanned vessels.

Read more: Cybersecurity and Digital Resilience

Feature Story: Building the next generation – Punggol Digital District

Launched progressively from Q3 2024, Punggol Digital District (PDD) is Singapore’s first smart and sustainable business district that showcases our Smart Nation ambitions. It is also the first district to offer a living lab for smart solutions.

Through PDD’s Open Digital Platform (ODP), data and control functions across buildings and systems will be integrated within the district, to optimise energy and manpower resources. The ODP will enable innovation and test bedding for companies in the district by allowing companies within the estate to connect with it. Companies can testbed smart solutions, such as robots using PDD's lift systems without needing to engage the lift manufacturer separately or deploy additional hardware or software.

In addition to housing digital leaders in growing tech sectors such as cybersecurity and AI, the co-location of PDD with the Singapore Institute of Technology’s new campus will provide students with a full-fledged applied learning environment, while increasing businesses’ access to young talent.

Staying connected with the world

We will continue to strengthen our physical and digital connectivity globally, to ensure that we continue to be a primary and trusted choice for others to trade with, and for goods and data to flow through. Investment in capacity, resilience, and efficiency keeps Singapore competitive and allows us to build a strong infrastructural foundation and secure economic opportunities for our future.