Singapore's PSA Jan-July container traffic up 11.6 pct

State-owned Singapore port operator PSA International said on Wednesday that its Singapore terminals moved 11.6 percent more containers in the first seven months of 2008 compared to a year ago.

The firm, which runs ports in Singapore and abroad, said in a statement on its Web site (www.singaporepsa.com) that it handled 17.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), a standard industry measure, compared with 15.41 million TEUs in the same period last year.

Singapore's government is spending S$2 billion ($1.5 billion) to expand its home port's capacity by 40 percent in five years, to cope with higher volumes expected from global trade.

PSA also runs ports in Belgium, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, Pakistan, Portugal, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.

Source: www.reuters.com