ABSTRACT

The major ports of the ASEAN region1 have undergone a dramatic transformation over the past forty years. During the 1950s they laboured under the handicap of run-down infrastructure. Wharves built in the early years of the century had deteriorated during and after World War II. Cargo handling equipment was primitive, capital for port improvements hard to obtain. Cargo was handled by labour intensive methods. Vessels spent long periods in port and congestion on and off the wharves was endemic. But containerization, imposed on the region by decisions made in Europe and the United States, forced revolutionary change within the ASEAN port system. By the early 1990s Singapore was the world's leading container port. The efficiency of major ports in the region had improved dramatically. The intermodal possibilities of containerization were beginning to be exploited in Southeast Asia. The contrast with the 1950s could not be more dramatic.