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SINGAPORE - Singapore is spending $S2 billion ($1.83 billion) to boost annual capacity at its container port by about 40 per cent to cope with the higher volumes expected from global trade, a newspaper said on Saturday.
The Maritime Port Authority of Singapore will create 16 extra berths by 2013 at the Pasir Panjang terminal, which will have an annual handling capacity of 14 million standard containers, said the Singapore Straits Times.
The port authority and port operator PSA International were not available for comment.
Singapore is the busiest container port in the world. PSA, which operates four of the five container terminals, expects to handle 27 million twenty-foot equivalent units or freight boxes this year, the paper said.
The Pasir Panjang terminal is already doubling its number of berths to 26 over the next two years under an initial development project, expected to be completed in 2009 to take capacity across PSA's four terminals to 35 million boxes.
- REUTERS