PSA reported that at its fully automated Tuas terminal traditional prime movers have been replaced by driverless guided vehicles, and that over 1,700 employees moved into new roles since it opened

Event date / reported

Evidence stage

Tasks this bears on

Where this applies

One operator, in Singapore, reporting on its own terminals, in an annual sustainability report covering the calendar year 2025. Two clauses carry the linked tasks. On horizontal transport, the report states that at the fully automated Tuas Port traditional prime movers have been replaced by a fleet of driverless automated guided vehicles, guided by a central management network supported by specialised backend systems and dedicated information technology teams. On the work that automation created, it states that new information technology employees undergo a two-week immersion within the control centre to correlate backend system logs with live terminal manoeuvres, and names the training built for this transition, including a work-study diploma in port automation technology run with a technical institute. The mechanism matters more than the fact: this terminal was built around the machines rather than converted, and at the same company's older Pasir Panjang terminal the equivalent vehicles were still in operational trials through 2025 with deployment planned with safety drivers, so the same operator runs both models in one city. What it does not establish, and this is where a reader should be careful: the report gives no quayside headcount, no ratio of control-room staff to machines, and names neither the origin nor the destination roles of the 1,700. Group headcount rose from 9,695 to 10,290 across three years, but that figure spans warehousing, engineering and technology, so it is not evidence about this occupation. Read it beside the number in the same table that moves the other way: collective bargaining agreement coverage fell from 74.3% to 68.3% to 67%, which the report attributes to a growing number of contract staff. The publisher is marketing this terminal as the most automated in the world and the conclusion that automation created good jobs is one the document exists to support.

What this means

What it does not yet show

It does not tell you what happened to the people. The report gives no quayside headcount, no staffing ratio, and does not say which roles the 1,700 came from or went to. The group figure that rose covers warehousing, engineering and technology, so it cannot be read as this occupation holding steady. The number in the same table that moved the other way is coverage by collective agreement, down from 74.3% to 67%.

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