The Port of Singapore was named “Best Seaport in Asia” for the 29th time, informs the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). This was announced at the 2017 Asia Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Awards (AFLAS) held in Singapore on June 29.

The AFLAS awards are organised by freight and logistics publication Asia Cargo News to honour organisations for demonstrating leadership and consistency in service quality, innovation, customer relationship management and reliability. The awards are granted based on votes of the readers of Asia Cargo News.

Other finalists in the “Best Seaport in Asia” category this year included regional competitors – Hong Kong and Shanghai – however, the award was after all given to Singapore for its “leading performance on a range of criteria”. These include cost competitiveness, its container shipping-friendly fee regime, provision of suitable container shipping-related infrastructure, timely and adequate investment in new infrastructure to meet future demand as well as the facilitation of ancillary services.

Andrew Tan, MPA Chief Executive, said: “We are humbled and honoured by this recognition. Despite the current challenging conditions, we were able to retain our position as the world’s busiest container transhipment hub in 2016. This would not have been possible without the strong support of our partners. MPA will continue to work closely with all our stakeholders to strengthen our competitiveness as a premier global hub port and international maritime centre.”