By
Rebecca Gibson |
SATS-Creuers has rolled out various enhancements to the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS), aimed at taking passengers from ship-to-kerb in just 15 minutes.
Implemented over a six-month period at a cost of S$7 million, the upgrades were designed to ensure that MBCCS is able to process the growing number of cruise passengers more efficiently. SATS-Creuers has also worked with cruise operators to coordinate and better regulate passenger disembarkation by setting the threshold capacity for the Arrival Hall at 600 passengers.
“We worked closely with all our stakeholders – including government agencies, cruise lines, their handlers – to implement this suite of improvements,” said Bob Chi, CEO of SATS-Creuers. “We are confident they will provide passengers a seamless experience, while also positioning ourselves for future growth.”
MBCCS now features a fourth passenger boarding bridge to better facilitate embarkation and disembarkation, two more X-ray machines in the arrival hall to increase customs screening throughput and new check-in counters on the Departure Mezzanine Level to improve embarkation processes. The passenger holding area in the level 1 Arrival Hall Lobby has also been extended, while the capacity of the luggage conveyor system has been increased, enabling it to handle 1,200 bags per hour instead of 400. The number of passenger luggage trolleys has also been doubled to 800.
Modifications has also been made to the terminal’s taxi stand to improve turnaround time during peak periods. To increase the comfort of guests, the queuing space has been extended, fans have been installed and the taxi ranks have been redesigned to accommodate more vehicles.
In addition, SATS-Creuers has organised roadshows to familiarise local taxi drivers with MBCCS’ layout and established a database to push notifications to taxi drivers during peak periods. It has also launched a mobile app that enables more than 2,000 drivers to receive notifications about incoming cruise ships. This has helped the company to increase the availability of taxi services for visiting cruise passengers