OFFICIALLY relaunching this evening, the Singapore Cruise Centre’s (SCC) rejuvenated terminal at HarbourFront is giving the once-unchallenged operator fresh ammunition in its fight for business against newcomer, Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS).
Upgraded to the tune of S$14 million (US$11.5 million), the cruise/ferry terminal was injected with a 26 per cent increase in passenger operations space. Arrival immigration counters and automated gates have been doubled, as have baggage check-in counters. There are also more amenities such as a new VIP check-in lounge.
Said SCC CEO, Christina Siaw, “When passengers step onto shore, 95 per cent will be out of the terminal in 30 to 40 minutes. Previously, it took 10 to 20 per cent more time.” Bags will now take about 30 minutes to be discharged from the ship to the arrival hall, an improvement of 45 minutes from before.
While the terminal’s footprint is unchanged at 12,800m2, almost 30 per cent of retail space was sacrificed, while other infrastructure changes were made to enlarge operations space. The terminal has also been modernised to give a garden and holiday feel.
The last renovation works for HarbourFront were in 2005 and 2008, but both were not as major.
With the soft opening of MBCCS in May, Siaw said that cruise calls have “fallen a bit”, although she does not have numbers for the 2012/2013 financial year ending March 2013. In 2011/2012, SCC received 347 cruise calls, with a passenger throughput of 901,976.
“(MBCCS) is handling the bigger ships, plus some companies want to have their smaller ships (call at the same terminal). We expect to lose about 20 per cent of passenger throughput,” she predicted.
As SCC is unable to take larger ships because of height restrictions posed by the nearby cable car attraction, it is looking at ways to get smaller- and medium-sized vessels to call more often, which include providing a higher degree of customisation to each customer, said Siaw.
Currently handling about six million passengers yearly at all its terminals, she foresees a small increase in overall passenger numbers for SCC’s next financial year, as its ferry business, which contributes about five million passengers, continues to flourish.
Despite the arrival of MBCCS, Siaw pointed out that it was still a win-win situation, as the new terminal was attracting business from first-time cruise ships, helping to grow the overall cruise pie for Singapore. SCC is expecting three maiden calls in the cruise season of 2013/2014.
