Singapore appointed 2 idiots to lead the task force.

[jw5]

from straitstimes.com:

PM Wong to attend inauguration of Indonesia’s new president Prabowo​

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto with PM Lawrence Wong at the Istana on June 1. PM Wong will be attending Mr Prabowo's inauguration on Oct 20. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE

Hariz Baharudin
Indonesia Correspondent
UPDATED

OCT 19, 2024, 07:38 PM

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JAKARTA – Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will visit Jakarta on Oct 20-21 to attend the inauguration of Indonesia’s new president Prabowo Subianto.
Mr Prabowo, 73, will be sworn in during a ceremony to be held on the morning of Oct 20 at the People’s Consultative Assembly Hall in the Parliament Complex in central Jakarta.
PM Wong will join other invited leaders to personally offer his congratulations to Mr Prabowo, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said on Oct 19.

“As close neighbours, the visit reaffirms the importance of the Singapore-Indonesia relationship and Singapore’s commitment to further strengthen substantive bilateral ties, including in key priority areas discussed at the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat on April 29, 2024,” the PMO statement said.
PM Wong will be accompanied by his wife and officials from the PMO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Besides Singapore, representatives from other nations look set to attend, including Australia, China, the United States as well as Asean nations. Among the guests will be Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, and Laos Vice-President Pany Yathotou.

After the ceremony, Mr Prabowo will deliver his inaugural speech. There will also be a state dinner reception at the Presidential Palace in the evening.

Jakarta has been gearing up for the presidential handover in the past week.
Posters and banners have been installed across the city, reading: “Thank you, Jokowi. All the best, Prabowo, Gibran.”
Jokowi is the nickname of outgoing President Joko Widodo, while Gibran refers to his 37-year-old son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the former mayor of Solo, who will be sworn in as vice-president.
Mr Prabowo, who was previously defence minister, won more than 58 per cent of the votes cast on Feb 14. It was his third bid for the presidency, after running against Mr Widodo in 2014 and 2019.
About 100,000 security personnel have started to be deployed across Jakarta to ensure that the inauguration goes smoothly. They include snipers and members of anti-riot units, said military chief Agus Subiyanto.
State leaders and foreign dignitaries will also have security escorts. “We need to be alert about possible threats before, during and after the inauguration,” said General Agus.
The Indonesian Air Force will also deploy four F-16 jets to guard aircraft carrying foreign dignitaries attending the inauguration, state news agency Antara reported.
Crowds are expected to gather in Jakarta’s streets to welcome Mr Prabowo as the new president and bid farewell to Mr Widodo.
A street event called “The People’s Party” will take place on Oct 20, where some 10 stages will be set up along main roads in Jakarta to host concerts, dances and other performances.

 

[jw5]

from straitstimes.com:

PSA breaks ground on new $647.5m supply chain hub, in efforts to keep Tuas Port competitive​

The new hub will strengthen Singapore port operator PSA’s network to facilitate seamless exchange of cargo between transportation and logistics partners. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO

Kok Yufeng
Transport Correspondent
UPDATED

OCT 18, 2024, 08:31 PM

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SINGAPORE - Port operator PSA broke ground on a new $647.5 million Tuas warehousing facility equipped with advanced robotics and automation systems on Oct 18, as part of its efforts to sharpen Tuas Port’s competitive edge.
Construction of the new facility comes as Singapore looks set to handle a record-breaking container volume of 40 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2024.
Spanning more than 185,000 sq m and located within the limits of Singapore’s new mega port, the new PSA supply chain hub is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2027.

Speaking at an event to officially mark the start of construction work, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the hub will improve the Republic’s ability to handle cargo shipments.
PM Wong, who is also Finance Minister, said the new hub will have facilities to handle dangerous goods, as well as goods that require cold storage. This will allow it to process higher-value cargo, such as pharmaceuticals and chemicals that require special handling.
“Currently, businesses that want such services have to truck their cargo out of the port, incurring duties, and then truck it back to the port for shipping again. This takes time, and it adds up to additional costs,” he said.

With the new supply chain hub, companies will be able to tap these specialised cargo handling services under one roof within the same free trade zone as Tuas Port, he noted. Custom duties are not charged on goods that are stored in such free trade zones.

“We want businesses to use Tuas Port as a convenient and efficient one-stop shop, not only for their physical goods but also as a control tower to manage their inventory and global supply chain flows,” PM Wong added.
Construction of the facility comes as competition gets increasingly sharp in the shipping industry.
PM Wong said other major ports like Shanghai and Rotterdam were upgrading their infrastructure to serve larger vessels and attract “mega” shipping alliances.

He added that many ports around the world are also offering services beyond just moving containers. These include cold storage facilities and regional distribution centres.
Furthermore, unlike ports in countries with large production and consumption bases, Singapore has no hinterland of its own, he added.

An artist’s impression of PSA’s new supply chain hub in Tuas, which will be ready in 2027. PHOTO: PSA

In this environment, Singapore cannot afford to be complacent and has to sharpen its competitive edge to remain the “preferred port of call”, PM Wong said.
“We must continually invest not just in the Port of Singapore but also in value-added capabilities so that we can keep on adapting and staying abreast of changing trends.”
These trends include the growing scale of shipping, with ships today built to carry up to 25,000 containers, compared with 500 to 800 containers in the 1950s, he said.

Shipping alliances, which allow major container shipping lines to share vessels, port calls and trade routes, are also growing bigger, he said.
What this means is that ports will need to have the infrastructure to handle large ships and large numbers of containers efficiently. Ports will also need to add value to shipping alliances to attract the large fleets they operate.
“The major alliances today hold over 80 per cent of the world’s container shipping capacity. Changes in their service networks could significantly affect traffic to hubs like Singapore,” PM Wong added.
Singapore’s port terminals handled a record 39 million TEUs in 2023 and hope to cross 40 million TEUs in 2024, he said. Vessel arrivals and bunker volumes have also risen in the first nine months of the year.
The completion of PSA’s new supply chain hub in Tuas in 2027 will coincide with the closure of Keppel Distripark, which specialises in the consolidation and distribution of cargo.
PM Wong said the new hub will expand the capacity currently available at Keppel Distripark, allowing Singapore to attract more trade.

PM Lawrence Wong addressing the audience during the launch of the PSA Supply Chain Hub @ Tuas ground-breaking ceremony on Oct 18. ST PHOTO: BRIAN TEO

He added that there will also be “many more developments” in the coming years to ensure Tuas Port can continue to serve the largest container vessels.
On its part, the Government will also help to ensure cargo and vessels move on time and on schedule.
For instance, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore is developing new systems to improve navigational safety and operational efficiency in the Singapore Strait and the Republic’s port waters, Mr Wong said.
“We will have improved abilities to anticipate potential disruptions and hazards, and to manage incidents,” he added.
In a statement on Oct 18, PSA said the construction of the new supply chain hub is a central part of its strategy to expand within Tuas Port.
PSA International group chief executive officer Ong Kim Pong said rapidly evolving global trade patterns require the port operator to rethink its business strategy.
The new supply chain hub in Tuas will allow the company to harness the full potential of its port and logistics network, which PSA will continue to expand in a “sustainable way”, he added.
Tuas Port, which is being developed in four phases, will be able to handle 65 million 20-foot containers when fully operational in the 2040s, making it the world’s largest automated port.
As at October, 10 of its 66 container berths are in operation, with one more berth expected to begin operations by end-2024.
By 2027, operations at Tanjong Pagar, Keppel, and Brani terminals will be shifted to the $20 billion mega port. Meanwhile, Pasir Panjang terminal will remain open until its operations are also consolidated in Tuas by the 2040s.