Commenting on Singapore’s hub status on the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), SMU Assistant Professor of Operations Management (Education) Joyce Low opined that any direct impact will be limited because the route is not suitable for most container trade. Therefore, she added that the core containerised trade that sustains Singapore’s transhipment hub role will continue to rely primarily on the Suez-Malacca corridor and intra-Asia networks. Asst Prof Low also said that Singapore has evolved from a transit port into a comprehensive maritime and logistics ecosystem offering bunkering, ship management, finance, arbitration, digital logistics and regional headquarters functions, and these roles cannot be replicated by Arctic ports.
