Recession has slowed the regional hub’s project activity

Singapore, a modern city-state with a population of 5 million, is a logistics and transshipment hub for Southeast Asia. Singapore’s logistics and supply-chain sector accounts for 9.4 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product and nearly 200,000 jobs.

Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore’s minister for trade and industry, said in a recent speech that logistics is the lifeblood of Singapore’s economy. “The competitiveness of our trading and export-oriented manufacturing industries depends on a strong logistics and supply chain industry,” he said.

Sectors experiencing the most project logistics activity in Singapore are chemical plants; monorail construction; resorts and oil and gas hubs, said Lim Siew Hua, regional general manager for BDP Project Logistics for Vietnam and Singapore.

Like other nations, Singapore has been affected by the global recession. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the country’s GDP declined by 12.5 percent, the biggest quarterly decline since the government began publishing the data in 1976. The drop follows a third-quarter decline in GDP of 5.4 percent.

Although the government plans to increase spending to stem declines in manufacturing, services and construction, analysts are offering grim forecasts for 2009.

“If we are correct, 2009 will mark the most severe recession in Singapore’s history,” said Kit Wei Zheng, a Citigroup economist.

Despite the downturn, construction projects are proceeding, and maintenance, repair and operations activity remains ongoing.

Jurong Island, a 23-berth port complex west of the main island of Singapore, is a major gateway for multi-purpose cargo moving through Southeast Asia. Its conventional and bulk cargo terminals can accommodate 150,000-deadweight-ton vessels. Between January and November 2008, the port handled 13.3 million tons of conventional and bulk cargo, compared with 13.1 million tons for all of 2007.

Jurong hosts more than 80 companies that have invested in excess of $24 billion. Big names there include BASF, BP, Celanese, ExxonMobil, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Chevron Oronite, Shell and Sumitomo Chemical.