[Tanada]

Good pics. Would be better to see some kind of before/after over time to do any meaningful comparison. See if the ships are generally moving or just staying put.

Possibly OT : it's a bit like money velocity. Doesn't do any good just sitting there, it's when it moves that all the interesting things happen.

A few years ago we stayed a few nights at a beach front chalet on the south coast of Singapore within sight of many, many, anchored cargo vessels which we gazed at while sitting on the beach. There were so many it looked like the sea itself was lit up during the evening hours as these ships sat silently and motionless waiting to load, unload, get customs clearance, or simply waiting for a job or a final resting place in a scrap yard.

Keep in mind that the lifespan of a seagoing cargo vessel is short. 20 to 30 years. http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Ship

With that in mind, and I could be wrong, but I suspect at least some of the recent increase in idle seagoing cargo vessels stems from the collapse in demand for scrap metal. Remember, in 'normal' times, on any given year 4 or 5% of all oceangoing cargo vessels (freshwater vessels last decades longer) would be converted into scrap metal. But now many are simply sitting anchored near busy sea lanes waiting to get scrapped.

Apparently new rules inside India are reversing this trend for breaking yards like Alang.

Thursday, 17 Sep 2009
It is learnt from the market sources that imports of steel scarp have become unaffordable for the domestic furnace owners owing to slackness in demand of downstream long products. The dilapidated demand has left them in a situation with compounding costs thereby obliterating the margins. Rubbing salt to the injury the recent regulations restricting the import of scrap only to end users has proved a dampener curtailing the supplies significantly.

It is learnt that rolling mills in vital centers of West and North have cartelized to gloss over the grim situation by attempting to push prices regardless of subnormal demand. Ship breaking scrap prices have soared as supplies partially assuage the demand from starved rolling mills.

Above from something called the Steel Guru you can find HERE!

[mattduke]

The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive ... apore.html

[Nefarious]

I believe this was posted before. A while back.

[lowem]

I believe this was posted before. A while back.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Topics merged and moved to Asia Discussion.

[Ainan]

I'm finishing my Computer Science degree and have a few years in industry. For a while now I've been receiving a lot of information about Singapore and have been offered two opportunities to visit and meet companies/government types. While I have never visited, it seems very nice. Clean, high tech, no enrichers murdering people on the streets. So many of my favourite violinists are from that part of Asia.

Anyway I laughed my head off at this video: Youtube

Having said that, if the apocolypse doesn't pan out I'd definetly like to work in Singapore. I'm not quite happy with the direction the West is heading. Is it so much to ask for co-workers who are passionate about what they do? Or at least co-workers who are competent? I'd settle for co-workers who washed their hands after using the toilet.

If anyone in this thread could give me any relevant information regarding Singapore I would be very grateful.

[Mesuge]

Some members of the global elite are moving into Singapore, for example think about Jim Rogers (the Soros buddy), he was quite eloquent about the reasons to permanently move there incl. young family:

pros:

- somewhat expat (westerner) friendly in comparison to hell holes like Emirates
- educated society
- obsessively law obedient
- vertically integrated (holds true for most asian societies)
- this will be asian century
- the mainland China economic miracle started in Singapore
(head honcho commies basically imported the know-how and advisors from there in the 70s)
- compact in territory but large political/economic tentacles in the region
(think of classic era/renaissance city states projecting power outwards)
- Singapore can adopt policies/change strategy more quickly
than giants like mainland China and other big asian countries


cons:

- the climate (for some) - built on reclaimed swampland
- somewhat spoiled younger generations aka the drive of "founders"
might become lost
- obsessively law obedient society (for the liking of some westerners)
- it's asian city state so some people might freak out from the pop. density

It depends where you are moving from,
if you are currently U.S. based and don't own farm in Oregon/Wash. state just go yersterday, good luck! You can make some dough, and have the option to later relocate to N. Europe etc.

[lowem]

- educated society

Functional knowledge and skills for the most part.
Don't expect great in-depth conversations on say, peak oil, or energy security, for example.
Expect to have to listen sympathetically to those complaining about say, government policies, or the cost of living, etc

- the climate (for some) - built on reclaimed swampland

Technically true only for small areas around the coastal region in the early days.
Most if it was just your typical tropical rainforest that had been cleared.

Current reclamation efforts on the other hand have increased land area by about 40%.
Which sounds incredible but remember it was never that big to begin with (from 500 square km to 700 square km).

As for the climate, well you get used to it. At home I have turned off the aircon master switch for over 5 years now and would have removed the aircon units entirely if not for the unsightly holes that would leave in the walls.

- it's asian city state so some people might freak out from the pop. density

True. It wasn't that bad maybe 15 years ago when it was at 2 million people. Now that we are nearly hitting 5 million on the way to 6 million it *is* getting a little too crowded especially in the city/downtown area, which I mostly try to avoid on the weekends.

Even the place where I stay in the far suburbs (relative to size), Christmas shopping period has become crazy. Not that bad for me since I don't need parking as that mall is for me a 5-minute stroll across the road. But it *is* getting a little too crowded for my taste.

Oh, as for the population density it is over 6800 people per square km.
How about that

[lotrfan55345]

Functional knowledge and skills for the most part.
Don't expect great in-depth conversations on say, peak oil, or energy security, for example.
Expect to have to listen sympathetically to those complaining about say, government policies, or the cost of living, etc

Better than can be said about many other countries, where people have no knowledge or opinions of any of those issues.

True. It wasn't that bad maybe 15 years ago when it was at 2 million people. Now that we are nearly hitting 5 million on the way to 6 million it *is* getting a little too crowded especially in the city/downtown area, which I mostly try to avoid on the weekends.

Oh no, Singapore needs more people! To assert itself economically and geopolitically, in the face of such a small land area. And to encourage the development of more skyscrapers (and Singapore's unique flavor of modern architecture!), to make it even more of a "skyscrapercity."

10 million would be good! Just get the water issues sorted, and everything will be fine

[lowem]

This video is a good explanation of the car price situation over here in Singapore.

edition.cnn.com (video link)

The price of a piece of paper, or the *right* to own a car, is currently, in SGD/USD terms :

Below 1.6L : SGD $77,201 (USD $63,093)
1.6L and above : SGD $92,400 (USD $75,514)

That's not the car price.
This is just the price of the option to own the car.

[lowem]

Prices of some Honda models over in Singapore.
Should be familiar to global users worldwide : the Honda Accord, City and Civic.

USD conversion equivalents :

Honda Accord : $151,111
Honda City : $107,014
Honda Civic 1.6L (conventional) : $116,007
Honda Civic 1.5L (hybrid) : $124,182
Honda Civic 1.8L (conventional) : $141,350

The prices have doubled since about 3-4 years ago, primarily due to a rise in the price of this "certificate of entitlement" (COE) of over 5 times.

[lowem]

channelnewsasia.com :

The new Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle Scheme (CEVS) will apply to all new cars, taxis and newly imported used cars registered with effect from 1 January 2013. Under the new scheme, registered cars with low carbon emissions of less than or equal to 160g carbon emissions per kilometre (CO2/km) will qualify for rebates of between S$5,000 and S$20,000. Cars with high carbon emissions equal to or more than 211g CO2/km, will incur a registration surcharge between S$5,000 and S$20,000. The surcharges will only take effect six months later, from 1 July 2013 to give consumers and the motor industry more time to adjust.

This is an interesting new scheme to replace the previous green vehicle rebate system which operated on a fixed basis. Under this one, rebates are given out based on the vehicle's published CO2 emission rate, in an attempt to make green vehicles slightly less expensive and gas guzzlers slightly more expensive. The key emphasis being, *slightly*. In the meantime, Singapore remains the most expensive place in the world to own a car.

[lowem]

Singapore car prices have gone up yet again. This time COE ("certificate of entitlement") prices are hitting records and are just about to breach the SGD $100,000 mark. As they say here in Singapore, it's just the price for a piece of paper. And not even that, these days that COE is electronic, just a few bits and bytes on some hard drive somewhere.

Once again using the fairly common Honda series of cars, we have the conventional Honda Civic 1.6L coming in over USD $130,000 and the Honda Civic Hybrid 1.5L over USD $150,000. Given that say a Civic Hybrid costs about US $24K over in California, one of these here in Singapore can buy more than 6 copies over there.

I'm holding on to my current Civic Hybrid but time is running out. Each COE only has a lifespan of 10 years ...