Huang Wenhao, President of Jurong Port, said: "The ready-mixed concrete ecosystem of Jurong Port is a new system built after we launched the clean petroleum product storage facility "Jurong Port Tank Terminal" in 2017."

The ready-mixed concrete port facilities have begun to be built with an investment of 200 million Singapore dollar in Jurong Port to accelerate the automation of the local construction industry and increase production efficiency.

This ready-mixed concrete (RMC) ecosystem is believed to be the world's first universal facility for construction companies.  It is estimated that about 6 million tons of sand and gravel can be transported from Jurong Port Terminals as aggregates for cement each year.

These aggregates will be transported directly from ships moored in the port to the RMC factory in Jurong Port by means of automatic conveyor belt, which not only saves manpower and improves production efficiency, but also reduces carbon emissions.

The Jurong Port proclamation pointed out that these aggregates are currently  transported from Jurong Port to individual RMC factories in the western region. The transportation process is cumbersome and lacks economic benefit of scale.

Through this RMC ecosystem, the construction companies can reduce the number of heavy truck round trips. In addition, Jurong Port’s larger berths and water depth can meet the needs of large ships and shipments, allowing construction companies to obtain cement aggregates from more supply sources, strengthening the diversification of supply sources and the tenacity of the supply chain. More importantly, this will also help improve the economic benefit of scale for the construction companies and the efficiency of land use across the country.

Overall, the RMC ecosystem can save 18.5 hectares of land, reduce  600,000 transport times of heavy trucks and 30,000 tons of carbon emissions, and increase the berth efficiency from 800 metric tons to 1,000 metric tons per hour.

The seaport business started to be improved. Huang Wenhao, President of Jurong Port, said: "The RMC ecosystem of Jurong Port is a new system created after we launched the clean petroleum product storage facility "Jurong Port Tank Terminal" in 2017. We are excited to start building another port-centric ecosystem, which allows us to create value for the maritime supply chain and enhance their advantages."

The construction of the RMC ecosystem in Jurong Port will be carried out in two phases and is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2023.

Jurong Port is a multi-purpose port operator, mainly handling general, bulk cargo and specialised cargo. It is the main handling port for building materials such as cement and steel. 90% of building materials are shipped to Singapore from this port. It has a close relationship with the local construction industry.

Speaking of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in the construction industry, construction activities have been significantly reduced considering the safety of resuming work. Lin Shaolin, Chief Strategy Officer of Jurong Port, said frankly that the company’s business has indeed been affected. With the gradual recovery of construction activities, the seaport business also began to be improved.

He said: "We started to see some encouraging signs at the end of last month: the throughput of concrete cargo ships has begun to pick up, and many cargo ships plan to berth at the port. We can also feel that the construction industry is reviving. Hopefully in the next few months, They can return to their levels before the COVID-19."
 
The throughput of cement cargo ships at Jurong Port last fiscal year was 5.5 million metric tons, and the throughput of steel cargo ships was 3.9 million metric tons.

Lin Shaolin also said that  the COVID-19 has had an impact on the construction industry, and at the same time it has also prompted the construction companies to accelerate the process of automation and improve production efficiency. The seven RMC factories built this time have been fully leased to the construction companies. These companies did not give up the idea of renting due to the coronavirus, but expressed greater interest, showing that they all look forward to becoming stronger after the epidemic.

He revealed that with the storage and processing of cement and steel aggregates completed in Jurong Port, they will next build prefabricated construction technology (PPVC) storage and assembly facilities, which will bring more benefits to the construction industry.