The ongoing maritime dispute between Singapore and Malaysia will not affect the viability of the future Tuas Terminal. Development works are proceeding as planned, and there will be no impact to access for ships calling at the terminal in the future. Acting Minister for Transport Vivian Balakrishnan said this during a recent speech in Parliament.
When completed fully in 2040, the Tuas Terminal is expected to be the largest container terminal in the world, with a facility that will be able to cater to mega-vessels. In addition, the mega-terminal will also have a total capacity of up to 65 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), more than the combined 50 million TEUs capacity of the current city terminals.
“We have also been engaging Malaysia in order to find constructive solutions to both maritime and airspace issues,” said Minister Balakrishnan.
He also recapped the events leading to the maritime dispute.
“On 25 October 2018, Malaysia decided to unilaterally extend the Johor Bahru Port Limits into Singapore’s territorial waters off Tuas. This purported extension goes beyond even Malaysia’s own territorial sea claims according to its own 1979 map, which Singapore has consistently rejected.
“The inescapable conclusion is that the new Johor Bahru Port Limits transgress into what are indisputably Singapore Territorial Waters. Since then, both sides have been engaged in intensive discussions to de-escalate the situation.
“We have made reasonable progress so far, and I hope to make some joint announcements with my counterpart Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah within the next one or two weeks. So, akan datang.”
