Early Singapore as a Port
Singapore is tiny compared to other countries; yet, despite its handicap in size, it has a vibrant port which is presently the second-busiest in the world in terms of shipping tonnage. It was the world’s busiest centre for transhipment traffic in 2005 and it was the world’s top bunkering port in 2012.
Well, Singapore was not always this cosmopolitan. We began as a fishing village centuries ago, and we have grown into an international trading hub! Let’s now take a walk down memory lane as we explore the history of Singapore as a port over the last six centuries.
Before 1819
In the late 13th century, Singapore was a small settlement clustered on the northern bank of the Singapore River. The mouth of the River served as the only port in the south of the Strait of Malacca, and it had two main purposes:
1 It served as a trading port for products being shipped from the region to the rest of the world, and vice versa. For example, while South Johor and the Riau Archipelago supplied products to Singapore for export to other countries, Singapore supplied foreign products to the region; and
2 It ensured that international demand for good quality products, e.g., cotton, were met.
In the early 17th century, Singapore’s main settlement and its port were destroyed by the Portuguese. Singapore’s fortunes struggled until Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819, bringing about a major change.
Between 1819 and 1965
Sir Stamford Raffles was so excited to have found the deep and sheltered waters in Keppel Harbour that he established it as a new settlement and as an international port for Britain. He was interested in attracting Asian and European traders to this new port, so he decided that part of the land along the banks of the Singapore River would be reclaimed and assigned to the Chinese and English traders. This, he felt, would encourage them to invest in the settlement.
Because of the Chinese traders’ frequent business interactions with Southeast Asian traders, trading houses were set up along the lower region of the river. In the meantime, English traders set up warehouses along the upper region as they relied more on the yearly arrival of Indian traders.
By the 1830s, Singapore had become the centre of English trade in Southeast Asia because traders favoured this free port to other major regional ports which had more constraints. Singapore also become the centre of the Teochew trade in rice and maritime produce.
As her marine trade grew in the 19th century, Singapore became:
a port of call for marine vessels in their voyages along the Asian sea routes;
a coaling station for newly formed shipping networks;
a port which served the Malay Peninsula;
the administrative capital of British Malaya.
As a result, many roads and railways were constructed to facilitate the movement of crucial products such as crude oil, rubber and tin from the Malay Peninsula to Singapore to be made into basic products, and then transported to Britain and other international markets. These were the most crucial functions that the port of Singapore served.
1965 and beyond
Ever since Singapore gained independence in 1965, it had to compete with neighbouring ports to attract shipping trade. Singapore has done so by developing an export-focused business based on “value-added manufacturing”. In other words, it obtains raw or partly manufactured products from other places and exports these products back to the markets after adding value to them.
By the 1980s, trading activity no longer took place around the Singapore River. In the 1990s, our port became more distinguished and eventually became the busiest port in terms of shipping tonnage. Today, container terminals at Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, Brani, Jurong, Pasir Panjang and Sembawang are kept busy as they handle a range of ships, and the trading business they bring.