Preliminary estimates from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) indicate that box throughput at Singapore last month jumped 18% from January 2009 volumes.

Total boxes handled by dominant operator PSA and smaller terminal Jurong Port came up to 2.332 million TEUs last month, compared to 1.974 TEUs in the same month last year.

January 2010 box throughput at Singapore, still the world's busiest box port, had inched up about 2% from the 2.284 million TEUs handled in the preceding month of December 2009.

It must be noted, however, that last month's volumes, though an impressive 18% improvement year-on-year, are still a significant 397,000 TEUs or 14.5% short of the peak achieved in July 2008.

July 2008 saw Singapore handle the most number of boxes ever in a single month at 2.729 million TEUs.

Officials are counting on volumes to eventually attain those heights in months to come, although most market observers are being rather conservative, forecasting 2010 monthly volumes to stay beneath the 2.7 million TEUs mark.

Optimists, meanwhile, say at least last month's throughput was higher than February 2008's figure of 2.308 million TEUs and not far off at all from January 2008's 2.456 million TEUs.