Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS) at Marina South officially opened today in a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Mr Teo Chee Hean. The purpose-built 28,000-square-metre terminal, which is operated by SATS-Creuers Cruise Services (SCCS), saw its first ship dock on 26 May this year and is set to welcome more vessels as Singapore cements its status as a regional cruise hub.
The celebrations commenced with speeches by Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman of SATS, and DPM Teo Chee Hean, who was the Guest of Honour for the event. In his speech, Mr Edmund Cheng highlighted that “MBCCS is expecting over 70 ship calls by cruise liners including the Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Princess, Royal Caribbean International and Silversea. This will translate into a passenger traffic of more than 200,000 from now till March 2013. With intra-Asian travel increasing and the cruise industry being one of the fastest growing segments of the travel and leisure sector, more ships are expected to call at the terminal going forward.
Meanwhile, in his speech, Mr Teo stated that “the global cruise industry is projected to grow at an annual compounded rate of 7.4 per cent, to reach 22.4 million cruise passengers by 2015. As Asia grows in affluence, there is great potential for growth in the Asian cruise industry… the Singapore Tourism Board recently conducted a survey of potential cruise travellers in eight Asia-Pacific countries. Over eight in 10 of the respondents who had not previously experienced cruise travel indicated that they plan to do so.”
The opening of the terminal was signified by DPM Teo activating a “throttle” which launched an elaborate projection mapping display that brought guests through an enthralling visual journey on how MBCCS will propel Singapore to become a gateway for the cruise industry.