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How to be the top cruise centre Hub in Asia?
Clearance by ICA on board vessel at cruise centres is very critical as passengers have only a few hours within 24 hours after vessel docking to sightsee and shop.
Some were so upset by the long queue that they have spread the negative words that ICA is a big disappointment at cruise centres. Some have told me they will avoid Singapore in future.
Sharing:
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We came back via Changi T2 on 6Nov2022, and are impressed by the new walk-through unmanned electronic ICQ clearance system.
We submitted the SGArrivalCard[SGAC], the electronic health declaration for Covid-19 with ICA within three days prior arrival. It has helped in the fast ICQ clearance with no waiting time.
This fast ICQ clearance is now far superior [using the iris facial recording system] than the systems at Narita Airport [which I gave feedback to ICA in 2018. After four years the system at Changi Airport has been upgraded and renovated by ICA with great technology improvement.]
I hope this new system will be in place for the RTS at the Causeway to achieve fast and seamless walk-through ICQ clearance for MRT commuters.
Sharing the link of what I wrote in 2018… the link:
https://wordpress.com/stats/post/18631/tankoktim.wordpress.com
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STB to study new cruise and ferry infrastructure to meet growth in demand
Singapore’s cruise industry is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels between next year and 2024. PHOTO: ROYAL CARIBBEAN INTERNATIONAL
Adeline Tan and Ng Keng Gene
UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO on 19th Sept 2022 in Straits Times.
SINGAPORE – The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will study the need for new cruise and ferry infrastructure in Singapore, to ensure the country is ready to capture growing demand in the medium to long term.
It called a tender on Sept 6 for a team of consultants to do the survey. The team should include experts in architecture and engineering, as well as other specialists.
Ms Ranita Sundramoorthy, STB’s executive director of infrastructure planning and management, told The Straits Times that the cruise industry is “set on a strong growth trajectory” with cruise ships resuming port calls in South-east Asia as countries recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We also expect more cruise lines to include the region in their sailing itineraries to capture pent-up demand for travel,” she said, declining to share more details about the study as it had not begun.
“We will continue to plan ahead so that we are well poised to recapture demand,” she added.
STB’s director of cruise Jacqueline Ng said Singapore’s cruise industry is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels between next year and 2024. Before Covid-19, the industry had seen robust growth, she added.
In 2019, Singapore saw more than 1.8 million passengers in cruise passenger throughput. This number was around 1.38 million in 2017, an increase of 17 per cent from 2016.
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Industry observers said the development under study would benefit from being larger than existing terminals and be strategically located near the city centre. It should be designed to have more amenities to attract crowds.
Singapore Cruise Centre chairman Loh Lik Peng said the new development is likely to be one that can take both smaller and bigger ships.
“The industry is trending towards larger ships, because they are much more efficient than smaller ships,” he said. “You will need more berths for large vessels.”
There are two terminals in Singapore that accept cruise ships – the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS) and the Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC) at HarbourFront.
MBCCS has a capacity of 6,800 passengers and two berths. It allows cruise ships of up to 395m in length to berth, with no height limit, and is thus able to accommodate some of the largest cruise ships in service.
SCC also has two berths and can berth cruise ships of up to 270m in length and 50m in height. It can also accept ferries.
Mr Loh said STB has a range of options in assessing what the cruise industry needs to remain competitive in future, be it building a new terminal or upgrading existing facilities.
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“But there is no question in my mind that Singapore will need substantial improvements for the future,” he added.
Having several immigration halls would be ideal to handle more passengers at once, said Ms Angie Stephen, Royal Caribbean International’s vice-president and managing director for Asia-Pacific.
SCC currently has two berths and can berth cruise ships of up to 270m in length and 50m in height, as well as ferries. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
She added that a large cruise ship has 5,000 to 6,000 passengers or more. “If you’re having multiple cruise ships on the same day, you could potentially have 15,000 to 20,000 people arriving at the terminal to check in within a three- to four-hour window.”
Those who spoke to ST also said a central location, such as where the current terminals are, would be likely for a new development.
Mr Alan Cheong, executive director of research and consultancy at Savills Singapore, said roads and transport infrastructure to these areas are well developed.
The Pasir Panjang area is also another possibility, he added.
“The area already has a good deep water harbour and the West Coast Highway can easily handle the increased vehicular flow,” said Mr Cheong, adding that the nearby MRT stations – Labrador, Pasir Panjang and Haw Par Villa – can serve the cruise centre’s working community.
Given that the Pasir Panjang port terminals will fully move to Tuas only by the 2040s, he said the Pasir Panjang Ferry Terminal area is a more probable location for the development if it were to be completed within the next 10 years.
But Mr Cheong ruled out other areas such as near the Changi Naval Base, as civilian cruise facilities should be located far from military bases.
MORE ON THIS TOPIC
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Demand for sea vacations on the rise as cruise lines in Singapore resume port calls
Ms Stephen said the central area is attractive as it boasts impressive views of the city skyline as cruise passengers sail into their destination.
“Some places used to have cargo facilities as the cruise ship’s terminal, and that is never really a beautiful welcome into a destination. The industry definitely prefers having cruise-specific facilities in a tourist area,” she added.
Other observers said having more amenities around the cruise terminal, such as retail and food options, would benefit both cruise passengers and Singaporeans.
Mr Venson Wong, a spokesman for the Singapore Cruise Society, also suggested finding other uses for a new terminal. He cited the Shinko Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, Japan, which features a hotel within the terminal.”Look at how Singaporeans also go to the airport to shop and eat. So maybe we can do something similar with the cruise terminal,” he said. “That way, we can also make use of the space during off-peak seasons.”
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Resorts World Cruises adds Kuala Lumpur home port for Genting Dream cruise liner
Singapore’s current recreational cruise and ferry facilities
International cruise services terminals
1. Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore, operated by Sats-Creuers Cruise Services
2. International Passenger Terminal at HarbourFront Centre, operated by Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC)
Regional ferry terminals operated by SCC (trips to and from Malaysia and Indonesia)
1. Regional Ferry Terminal@HarbourFront Centre, operated by SCC
2. Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, operated by SCC
Other terminals operated by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
1. Changi Point Ferry Terminal (to and from Malaysia and Pulau Ubin)
2. Marina South Pier (to and from outlying islands within Singapore)
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Unless the ICA is up to speed on both sides, the RTS Link might not speed up the transit time between JB and Woodland.
I am impressed by the speed at the Marina Cruise Centre for me to walk through with ease last week, no queue unlike some eight years ago when fellow passengers told me that they will not wish to return to Singapore as it took them so long to get past the ICA checkpoint at the MCC.
A cruise ship will leave the MCC within a day. When hours are spent at the ICA queue there will be less time for sightseeing and shopping by the passengers in red dot.
Immediately, I wrote to Reach.sg and MOT suggesting that for Singapore to be the number one cruise centre in Asean if not Asia, red dot must learn from the NYC’s cruise centre on how they process immigration and custom procedures fast for passengers to spend more time for shopping and sightseeing.
I am glad the Govt has listened to feedback, and I am impressed by my recent experience at the MCC.
If this improvement can be done at the MCC [even employing the elderly folks at the queue as guides leaving the younger ICA personnel to man the equipment], I hope the Govt will improve the ICA procedures too at the Causeway and 2nd Link.
Will the Govt listen again? We have been waiting. We wait.
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Singapore’s facial verification system. Will we improve immigration clearance at cruise centres? Learn from Narita for airport fast clearance.
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Singapore in world first for facial verification
By Tim McDonaldBBC News, Singapore in BBC.com
- 25 September 2020
Singapore will be the first country in the world to use facial verification in its national identity scheme.
The biometric check will give Singaporeans secure access to both private and government services.
The government’s technology agency says it will be “fundamental” to the country’s digital economy.
It has been trialled with a bank and is now being rolled out nationwide. It not only identifies a person but ensures they are genuinely present.
“You have to make sure that the person is genuinely present when they authenticate, that you’re not looking at a photograph or a video or a replayed recording or a deepfake,” said Andrew Bud, founder and chief executive of iProov, the UK company that is providing the technology.
The technology will be integrated with the country’s digital identity scheme SingPass and allows access to government services.
“This is the first time that cloud-based face verification has been used to secure the identity of people who are using a national digital identity scheme,” said Mr Bud.
Verification or recognition?
Both facial recognition and facial verification depend on scanning a subject’s face, and matching it with an image in an existing database to establish their identity.
The key difference is that verification requires the explicit consent of the user, and the user gets something in return, such as access to their phone or their bank’s smartphone app.
Facial recognition technology, by contrast, might scan the face of everyone in a train station, and alert the authorities if a wanted criminal walks past a camera.
“Face recognition has all sorts of social implications. Face verification is extremely benign,” said Mr Bud.
Privacy advocates, however, contend that consent is a low threshold when dealing with sensitive biometric data.
“Consent does not work when there is an imbalance of power between controllers and data subjects, such as the one observed in citizen-state relationships,” said Ioannis Kouvakas, legal officer with London-based Privacy International.
Business or government?
In the US and China, tech companies have jumped on the facial verification bandwagon.
For example, a range of banking apps support Apple Face ID or Google’s Face Unlock for verification, and China’s Alibaba has a Smile to Pay app.
Many governments are already using facial verification too, but few have considered attaching the technology to a national ID.
In some cases that’s because they don’t have a national ID at all. In the US, for example, most people use state-issued drivers’ licences as their main form of identification.
China hasn’t attempted to link facial verification to its national ID, but last year enacted rules forcing customers to have their faces scanned when they buy a new mobile phone, so that they could be checked against the ID provided.
Nevertheless, facial verification is already widespread in airports, and many government departments are using it, including the UK Home Office and National Health Service and the US Department of Homeland Security.
How will it be used?
Singapore’s technology is already in use at kiosks in branches of Singapore’s tax office, and one major Singapore bank, DBS, allows customers to use it to open an online bank account.
It is also likely to be used for verification at secure areas in ports and to ensure that students take their own tests.
It will be available to any business that wants it, and meets the government’s requirements.
“We don’t really restrict how this digital face verification can be used, as long as it complies with our requirements,” said Kwok Quek Sin, senior director of national digital identity at GovTech Singapore.
“And the basic requirement is that it is done with consent and with the awareness of the individual.”
GovTech Singapore thinks the technology will be good for businesses, because they can use it without having to build the infrastructure themselves.
Additionally, Mr Kwok said, it is better for privacy because companies won’t need to collect any biometric data.
In fact, they would only see a score indicating how close the scan is to the image the government has on file.
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Improve immigration processes at cruise centres
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PUBLISHED on 26th Oct 2018 in ST Forum
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I feel assured that the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will explore the use of the best biometric recognition technologies to scan travellers’ iris and facial images to speed up the immigration clearance processes at our checkpoints (ICA trials eye scans to boost border security; Aug 6).
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This must be efficient enough to clear huge numbers of people in long queues during peak periods at all the checkpoints.
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In addition, I am particularly concerned with the slow immigration processing of incoming passengers from cruise ships at our cruise centres.
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When more than 1,000 passengers disembark at the same time from a huge cruise ship on a short 24-hour stopover, huge immigration queues are formed.
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Such passengers have only a precious few hours to visit the tourists spots in Singapore. Holding them up in long immigration queues is most distressing to them.
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If the long queue problem at the cruise centres is not addressed thoroughly, it would reflect poorly on our efficiency.
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Perhaps our immigration officers should be sent to New York City to learn how United States immigration officers and top cruise centres clear the passengers on board the cruises – instead of in a terminal building – smoothly and efficiently. We must not lose out on the opportunity to be the best cruise centre in this part of the world.
I have been told that some tourists on cruise ships with less than 24-hour stopover visit were disappointed by long queues at Singapore cruise terminals leaving than hardly much time to shop and visit tourist spots.
Some said that they will not come again and will spread the word that Singapore cruise centre is the worst one in the world.
Please learn from NY cruise centres, etc. how they clear passengers onboard the cruise vessels to speed up immigration clearance.
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Narita Airport uses two-level immigration clearances for passengers to speed up the processes.
Our ICA should also use high-tech procedures to speed up clearances at the Causeway and the 2nd Link.
Building more bridges will not speed up clearances [sending 10,000 commuters per hour across the Johor Straits] if the CIQ counters are not fully manned during peak hours and the staff take the ‘can’t be bothered or tida-apa attitude’ at their work stations.
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The original text of my letter is below:
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Quote:
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I feel assured that the ICA will explore the use of the best biometric recognition technologies to scan travellers’ iris and facial images to speed up immigration clearance at our checkpoints.
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This must be efficient enough to clear huge numbers of people in long queues at peak periods at the Causeway or Changi Airport.
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In addition, I am particularly concerned with the slow immigration processing of incoming passengers from cruise ships at our cruise centres . It has caused great distress. Many Singaporeans are not aware of the long queues at this third entry checkpoint.
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When more than 1000 passengers disembark at the same time from a huge cruise ship on a short 24-hour stopover, the passengers would have only a few precious hours to visit the tourists spots in Singapore and make their shopping. Holding them up in long immigration queues is most distressing to them. They do not have lots of hours to spare.
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If the long queue problem at the cruise centres is not addressed thoroughly, it would reflect poorly on our efficiency.
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When there is dissatisfaction, disappointment and disbelief affecting frustrated international passengers, words could spread around detrimental to our plans to expand our cruise centre business in this not-so-visible but equally important tourism sector.
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It is time our Govt send our ICA officers to NYC to assess how the US immigration officers and other top cruise centres clear the passengers on board the cruise vessels smoothly and efficiently. They do not clear the passengers at the terminal building and we must change our clearance procedures to reach their level of efficiency in cruise operations.
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We must not lose out to being the best cruise centre/hub in this part of the world and I know we have lots to catch up to be the one. “
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ICA trying out other immigration clearance technologies
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PUBLISHED3 HOURS AGO ON 22ND OCT 2018 IN ST FORUM ONLINE
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We thank Mr Hong Tack Weng for his letter (Improve automated immigration clearance processes; Oct 17).
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The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority is constantly on the lookout for ways to improve immigration clearance at our checkpoints.
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For travellers with poor quality of thumbprints, we can enrol their other fingerprints to facilitate their usage of the automated clearance.
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We have been exploring the use of other biometric recognition technologies. For example, we are currently conducting trials at selected checkpoints to scan travellers’ iris and facial images to determine the most effective and efficient immigration clearance technology.
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The use of such biometric identifiers will complement our existing identification methods, and facilitate immigration clearance without compromising security.
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Patrick Ong
Head, Public & Internal Communications
Corporate Communications Division
Immigration & Checkpoints Authority
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Improve automated immigration clearance processes
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PUBLISHED
OCT 17, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT in ST Forum
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I am thankful that the Government plans for the future to sustain the growth and prosperity of the new airport terminal (Changi East gears up for massive airport building works; Oct 11).
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However, there is one area that Changi Airport and the immigration authorities can improve on.
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My wife and I just returned from a short holiday in Perth, Australia. To our surprise, their immigration process involving the passport check was fully automated, with facial recognition.
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Each visitor took less than 20 seconds to clear immigration. In contrast, our system in Changi Airport was not as smooth, and the thumbprint feature did not seem to work for some.
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The reason given to us was that the thumbprints of elderly folk are usually worn out and, therefore, the computer has difficulty identifying our prints.
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Hence, we have to join the queue for the manual passport check every time we travel.
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If the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) insists on using the fingerprint processing system, why limit it only to the thumb?
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In Hong Kong International Airport, my index finger is scanned with immediate success every time.
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I recommend that ICA take a look at the Australian and Hong Kong models and install a more user-friendly system of clearance for travellers.
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by Hong Tack Weng
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Published on 26th Oct 2018 in ST Forum:
tankoktim 