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Asia’s strong economic growth, rapid development and its ever increasing role in global trade has created huge demand for shipping transport in the region. This boom has resulted in the increase of global marine transport which has put pressure on shipping companies to order more vessels and revive the older ones. The Asia-US container traffic grew to 6.9 per cent in the first half of 2007, a rise of over 8 percent compared to the same period in 2006. Analysts predict, on average, similar or higher cargo growth for 2008.

Singapore’s port remains the world’s busiest in 2007 in terms of shipping tonnage, cargo container throughput and bunker volume since 1986. While Singapore remains the Asian shipping hub with tremendous government support and incentives, there are a number of issues that the Asian marine industry needs to be addressed.