This is really funny, do people actually wonder what they work for
Trade slump
Counting the cost
Cheow Xin Yi
[email protected]
AN HOUR for lunch is a rarity for port employee
Daniel Tan. But it’s not a luxury he is enjoying
as it reflects the effects of the biggest decline in
international trade in a generation.
With fewer vessels calling at the Tanjong Pagar
Terminal, Mr Tan, who drives a prime mover that
trucks containers within the port, has been able
to sit down for a nasi padang lunch and enjoy the
company of his colleagues for a change.
“It’s only recently that you are able to see us here
having lunch,” Mr Tan said during his meal break with
workmates at a food centre in Tanjong Pagar Complex,
a stone’s throw away from where he works.
“We usedto be so busy that we only have 15 minutes
to ‘dabao’(take-away food) from inside the terminal.”
Mr Tan said he now makes fewer than 30 trips
within the terminal each day, compared with more
than 40 just “a few months ago”.
His story is mirrored by port workers in Singapore
and around the world as they count the cost
of a rapid collapse in trade. International trade is
set to fall by more than 2 per cent next year, the
most since the World Bank began measuring it in
1971, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
Trade slump
Counting the cost
Cheow Xin Yi
[email protected]
AN HOUR for lunch is a rarity for port employee
Daniel Tan. But it’s not a luxury he is enjoying
as it reflects the effects of the biggest decline in
international trade in a generation.
With fewer vessels calling at the Tanjong Pagar
Terminal, Mr Tan, who drives a prime mover that
trucks containers within the port, has been able
to sit down for a nasi padang lunch and enjoy the
company of his colleagues for a change.
“It’s only recently that you are able to see us here
having lunch,” Mr Tan said during his meal break with
workmates at a food centre in Tanjong Pagar Complex,
a stone’s throw away from where he works.
“We usedto be so busy that we only have 15 minutes
to ‘dabao’(take-away food) from inside the terminal.”
Mr Tan said he now makes fewer than 30 trips
within the terminal each day, compared with more
than 40 just “a few months ago”.
His story is mirrored by port workers in Singapore
and around the world as they count the cost
of a rapid collapse in trade. International trade is
set to fall by more than 2 per cent next year, the
most since the World Bank began measuring it in
1971, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
