Speaking at the city-state Ministry of Transport’s committee of supply debate on 3 March, Senior Minister of State for Finance Chee Hong Tat said that one move being considered is granting transhipment permits to goods being moved across land borders.
Presently, such goods are deemed imports to be re-exported, so companies must apply for two customs permits, incurring higher administrative and compliance costs.
There are potential cost savings of up to US$29 for each transhipment.
Another move being planned is to allow foreign trucks and drivers employed by local logistics and haulier companies to access container terminals and handle containers. Currently, only Singapore-registered trucks and local drivers, or those with Singapore work permits, are allowed to enter container terminals.
Trucks from Malaysia that are not Singapore-registered and have foreign drivers will have to offload their containers outside the port after entering Singapore and load them onto Singapore-registered trucks with Singaporean or work permit drivers, before these containers are allowed to enter the city-state’s container terminals.
Chee said, “This double-handling is not productive, as it leads to increased manpower requirements and business costs. We are also short of local drivers. PSA (the terminal operator) is working with the industry to allow non-Singapore registered trucks and non-Singaporean drivers under local logistics and haulier companies to access the container terminals and handle containers. They will do this in a phased approach to ensure safety and security. The companies and drivers will be subject to PSA’s approval, after attending workplace safety training and assessments.” Singapore-based haulier Allied Container Services is the first company that PSA has approved under this new arrangement.
