A study on Stevedoring companies and their operations in Singapore : break bulk shipping segment

• Main Author: Ng, Donovan Chun Hong
• Other Authors: Kenneth Tan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Maritime studies::Maritime management and business; DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75373
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The Port of Singapore is positioned as a premium global hub port in the Southeast Asia region. Besides its core involvement in container transhipment, Singapore also has a leading multipurpose port, handling break bulk and project cargos that were and will continue to be essential for the ever growing and changing industry in the nation. However, very little is known about the stevedoring companies and stevedores behind every successful complex break bulk operations. Considering the importance of stevedores’ contribution to the seamless functioning of our ports, this paper aims to study the development of stevedoring operations in the break bulk shipping segment in Singapore over time and find out the relevance of break bulk stevedores in the rapidly changing environment of break bulk shipping. Also, this paper hopes to promote a better understanding of the break bulk operations through an in-depth analysis based on the following five principal factors: 1. Operations 2. Health & Safety Aspects 3. Technology 4. Education and Skills Requirement 5. Demographic Through this analysis, it is concluded that the role of break bulk stevedores will continue to evolve in the future with technological developments in the break bulk industry. Just as how the break bulk shipping segment has not disappeared after containerization, but has changed in nature to become a specialised sector, handling goods which are challenging to transport in containers or where containerization does not represent a valid and cost-efficient mode of transport.