Singapore Cruise Centre and Shanghai Wu Song Kou International Cruise Terminal tap on cruise industry growth

SINGAPORE – The cruise industry in East Asia is set to sail ahead with passenger throughput increasing to 1.5 million by 2015. Market players said that’s a three-fold increase since 2005.

The Singapore Cruise Centre and its Shanghai counterpart want to tap on this growth with the signing of a new agreement on Tuesday.

Located at the mouth of the Huangpu river, the new Shanghai Wu Song Kou International Cruise Terminal is set to be China’s largest terminal and it will be working with the Singapore Cruise Centre to develop the leisure cruise market.

The agreement will see both sides cooperating to build up a network of ports in the region.

The Singapore Cruise Centre will also help its Shanghai counterpart iron out some operational issues.

Eventually, the Singapore Cruise Centre said it hopes to enter into a joint venture to operate and manage the Shanghai terminal.

Another key initiative is the formation of a cruise terminal association to improve the management of cruise terminal in Asia.

Cheong Teow Cheng, president, Singapore Cruise Centre, said: “As far as possible, all the ports should have some form of equal standards. The cruise ships need a series of ports to operate. It also helps in terms of the industry in general and in turn it will also help ourselves because the cruise ships continue to stay in Asia.”

And having more international liners docked in the region will boost revenue.
The operator said the leisure cruise segment in Singapore garners up to S$60 million in revenue a year.