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Ministry of Transport

Global maritime hub

Building a global maritime hub for companies and industry professionals.

Last updated 22 June 2026

Policies

Together with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), we aim to develop and promote Singapore as a premier global hub port and International Maritime Centre, as well as advance and safeguard Singapore’s maritime interests. This helps to increase the sector’s potential as a growth engine for the economy, providing jobs and business opportunities.  

Large cargo ships docked at container terminals with cranes loading and unloading containers.

World's Premier Global Hub Port

Singapore is a premier global hub port with more than 130,000 vessel calls annually. In 2025, Singapore’s annual vessel arrival tonnage reached a new record high of 3.22 billion Gross Tonnage, comprising various shipping segments, including bulk carriers, containers, and tankers. Singapore is also the world’s busiest container transhipment hub in. Total container throughput crossed the 40 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) mark in 2025, achieving a record of 44.66 million TEUs. 

Singapore is also the top bunkering port in the world. Sitting at the centre of trade routes and connected to more than 600 ports globally, it offers businesses and shipping lines seamless global trade connectivity, as well as a breadth and range of maritime services that few can match, including bunkering, pilotage, towage, fresh water supply, crew changes, and ship supplies. 

Aerial view of multiple ships anchored in Singapore waters with city buildings in the background.

Leading International Maritime Centre

Given Singapore’s strategic location along major shipping routes, as well as its diverse ecosystem of maritime services such as ship management, finance, insurance, broking, legal and arbitration, surveying, and marinetech, Singapore is well placed as a gateway for maritime companies to do business in the Asia-Pacific region. 

More than 200 international shipping groups and a varied range of maritime service providers have their offices in Singapore. The Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) also continues to rank amongst the largest ship registries globally. 

Aerial view of Singapore’s city skyline beside a busy port with stacked shipping containers.

Singapore has been ranked the leading maritime city by Menon Economics since its inaugural “Leading Maritime Cities of the World” biannual report in 2012. Likewise, the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index, an annual independent ranking of the world’s largest cities that offer port and shipping business services, has awarded Singapore the title of top International Shipping Centre since the start of the rankings in 2014.

International maritime

We contribute and work actively with international organisations to promote our maritime interests. Singapore has been a Council Member of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialised United Nations agency overseeing the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of pollution by ships, since 1993.

Singapore strongly supports the IMO’s leadership in international shipping and plays an active role as a Council Member, contributing to initiatives that enhance navigational safety for the international maritime community, promote efficient and sustainable shipping practices, and protect the marine environment. Singapore currently helms various leadership positions at the IMO, such as Vice-Chair of the Marine Environment Protection Committee and Chair of four Working Groups at the IMO Council, Committees, and Sub-Committees.

As a firm advocate of human capacity development, Singapore supports the IMO and fellow Member States in maritime capacity building. In collaboration with the IMO, we provide in-kind assistance under the Singapore – IMO Third Country Training Programme (TCTP). Technical training conducted under the TCTP enables beneficiary Member States to be equipped with knowledge to fully implement the obligations and requirements of IMO instruments.

The MPA Academy (MPAA) is the training arm of the MPA with a dedicated focus on global maritime leadership training for international port and maritime officials. The MPAA conducts a range of flagship training programmes catered to various levels and collaborates with established training institutions to run courses that are relevant and beneficial to maritime and port administrations, and to support the training needs of the IMO. 

Singapore is also a Council Member of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), which ensures that seas are properly surveyed and charted, and the International Organization for Marine Aids to Navigation (IALA), which improves and harmonises aids to navigation worldwide.

Closer to home, Singapore participates actively in regional platforms such as the Co-operative Mechanism on Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. 

Singapore is also a Contracting Party to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Singapore has hosted the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre since its inception in 2006, disseminating information and co-ordinating activities among the 21 Contracting Parties, which include countries in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and the United States.

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