Singapore volumes hit 30.7m TEU as typhoon-driven congestion grips Asia hubs

Singapore handled almost 30.7 million TEU in the first eight months of 2026, up 4% on the 29.4 million TEU recorded for the same period of 2025, and now expects full-year throughput near 46 million TEU. That growth is landing on a network already straining under typhoon-driven schedule chaos — global on-time reliability fell in September to 27%, its fourth consecutive monthly decline, according to freight intelligence platform Xeneta.

The picture at the region's other two transshipment hubs tells the same story. Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) is projected to handle 14.8 million TEU in 2026, extending a 15-year average annual growth rate of 5.5%. Port Klang moved just under 6.4 million TEU between January and May 2026, up from almost 6.1 million TEU a year earlier, and anticipates 15.4 million TEU for the full year.

What is disrupting schedules?

Mark Hardiman, CEO of Port of Tanjung Pelepas, points to weather as the primary destabiliser. "The recent severe typhoon season in East Asia has affected vessel schedules across the industry, resulting in irregular arrival patterns and periods of vessel bunching," he said, noting that carriers have had to adjust rotations and arrival schedules in response.

Xeneta's September 2026 data quantifies the damage. Asia-linked trades sit "at or near 12-month lows of on-time arrivals and 12-month highs on average delay." Southeast Asian ports average two days of vessel waiting time, with the share of vessels waiting rising to 23%. In Singapore, queues nearly doubled from 12 to 22 vessels per day — a 29% increase — while average wait times spiked from 1.9 to 3.1 days as the port absorbed downstream effects of Chinese port congestion.

How much capacity is trapped?

In early October 2026, Sea-Intelligence estimated that delays are absorbing 8.5% of the global containership fleet — roughly three million TEU of vessel capacity. For context, that is more than the entire annual throughput of Port Klang sitting idle in one form of delay or another.

The consultancy's recovery timeline should temper optimism. Based on post-pandemic and Red Sea precedents, Sea-Intelligence estimates six to eight months simply to return to conditions seen at end-2025, and 10 months to reach the lower levels of June 2025. That timeline extends beyond Golden Week and potentially past Chinese New Year on February 6, 2027 — meaning the traditional pre-holiday cargo rush could hit before networks clear.

Is new capacity coming?

All three hubs are building, though none of it arrives quickly.

PTP, a joint venture between Malaysia's MMC Group and Netherlands-based APM Terminals, is developing Berth Zero — a 360-metre berth on its linear wharf, awarded to the MMC Engineering and Antara Koh joint venture (MMCE-AKSB JV). Four quay cranes and a yard designed for electric rubber-tyred gantry cranes will support a target of 16.3 million TEU annual capacity by 2029, according to Hardiman.

Chairman Tan Sri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh framed it as footprint optimisation: "We do not stop where we are; we constantly seek room to growth to fulfil our customer-centric philosophy," he said, citing growing intra-ASEAN trade and Johor's position in global flows. PTP currently operates 67 quay cranes, 252 e-RTGs and 668 prime movers, including 54 electric units. The e-PM proof-of-concept demonstrated 48% lower emissions and 57% lower monthly operating costs per unit versus conventional prime movers.

At Port Klang, the National Physical Planning Council granted in-principle approval in October 2026 for the National Maritime Port City and Carey Island Port Special Economic Zone. Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said the project should create up to 115,000 jobs and add RM4.7bn to GDP by 2045. The planned development covers 1,012ha and is expected to add 42 million TEU of container capacity plus 38 million tonnes of conventional cargo. Initial construction could start in early 2027 — though "in-principle" approval and could are doing considerable work in that sentence.

Singapore, meanwhile, continues its consolidation at Tuas: 1,337ha and 66 berths offering 26km of quay at completion, with Phase 1's 21 deep-water berths reaching 20 million TEU annual capacity during 2027. PSA expects to move Tanjong Pagar, Keppel and Brani operations to Tuas by 2027, with Pasir Panjang consolidation stretching to the 2040s. Over 85% of incoming cargo is transshipped onward — a ratio that underwrites the hub model.

Can capacity and congestion be reconciled?

The original 2024 question — whether Southeast Asian ports risk overdeveloping — now has a split answer. Volumes justify expansion; current congestion validates it. But the relief is misaligned in time: new berths arrive from 2027 onward, while Xeneta sees "little prospect of any improvements in the short-term" and Sea-Intelligence's recovery window brushes against the February peak.

Hardiman's closing note is measured coordination, not guarantees: "We continue to engage and work closely with our customers on vessel planning, scheduling and operational coordination, while respecting that individual shipping lines manage their own operational and scheduling arrangements." Shippers routing through these hubs should expect bunching, omitted calls and shifted pressure to persist well into 2027, regardless of how the capacity pipeline is packaged.