Get to know Singapore as an Expat
Little Red Dot
Get to know Singapore as an Expat. It is a city - state in South East Asia, also known as the Little Red Dot. It is one of Southeast Asia's most dynamic and modern cities. Join us as we share some insights and help you to get to know Singapore as an Expat.
This small country is a melting pot of different cultures, cuisines and architectural styles. The name Singapore comes from Singa Pura which means Lion City in Sanskrit.
A Malayan Prince coined the name in the 13th century. He most likely mistook a lion for a Malayan Tiger.
The Merlion statue personifies Singapore. The lion head on the body of a fish which symbolizes Singapore's origin as a fishing village.
The infrastructure is extremely well developed, open and friendly business policies are practiced, intellectual property rights are protected / respected and the country is politically stable.
In fact the World Bank 2015 Report found that Singapore is the easiest place to do business in the world.
The Port of Singapore is very busy! It is currently the world's busiest transshipping port and is the second busiest in terms of total shipping by tonnage.
On average the port handles about 60 ships and 91,000 containers every day. In 2014 alone, Singapore handled 33.5 million containers.
Lined end-to-end, that is enough to encircle the globe four times. Almost everything needed for day to day life in Singapore needs to be imported. This means about 6 percent of the containers end their journey here.
Singapore also handles half of the world's annual crude oil shipping.
Current expansion to new terminals were completed at the end of 2017. This expansion enables Singapore to handle 50 million containers per year.
Geographically Singapore is at the crossroads between the East and the West. Ships pass between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean through the Singapore Strait.
Singapore has come a long way from its humble beginnings to the economic powerhouse it is today.
If this is your new home; you will fall in love with Singapore on Day 1 as you are getting to know Singapore as an expat.