It includes
Keppel Harbour and many small islands. The strait provides the deepwater passage to the
Port of Singapore, which makes it very busy. Approximately 2,000 merchant ships traverse the waters on a daily basis in 2017.[3] The depth of the Singapore Strait limits the maximum
draft of vessels going through the Straits of Malacca, and the
Malaccamax ship class.
Historical records
The 9th century AD
Muslim author
Ya'qubi referred a Bahr Salahit or Sea of Salahit (from the Malay selat meaning strait), one of the
Seven Seas to be traversed to reach China. Some have interpreted Sea of Salahit as referring to Singapore,[4] although others generally considered it the
Malacca Strait, a point of contact between the Arabs and the
Zābaj (likely Sumatra).[5] Among early Europeans travellers to South East Asia, the
Strait of Singapore may refer to the whole or the southern portion of the
Strait of Malacca as well as other stretches of water.[6] Historians also used the term in plural, "Singapore Straits", to refer to three or four different straits found in recorded in old texts and maps – the Old Strait of Singapore between
Sentosa and
Telok Blangah, the New Strait of Singapore southwest of Sentosa, the "Governor's Strait" or "Strait of John de Silva" which corresponds to Phillip Channel, and the
Tebrau Strait.[7] Today the Singapore Strait refers to the main channel of waterway south of Singapore where the international border between Singapore and Indonesia is located.
Pilot guides and charts of the Malacca and Singapore straits have been published for a considerable time due to the nature of the straits[9][10][11][12]
Second World War
The strait was mined by the British during the Second World War.[13]
Accidents
In 2009, the Maersk Kendal grounded on the Monggok Sebarok reef.[14]
^Singapore. Maritime and Port Authority; Singapore. Maritime and Port Authority. Hydrographic Dept (1998),
Singapore Strait, Hydrographic Dept., Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, retrieved 12 May 2012[permanent dead link]
Borschberg, Peter and Khoo, J.Q. Benjamin, "Singapore as a Port City, c.1290–1819: Evidence, Frameworks and Challenges", Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 91.1 (2018): 1-27.
https://www.academia.edu/35832776
Borschberg, Peter, "Singapura in Early Modern Cartography: A Sea of Challenges", in Visualising Space. Maps of Singapore and the Region. Collections from the National Library and National Archives of Singapore (Singapore: NLB, 2015): 6-33.
https://www.academia.edu/8681191
Borschberg, Peter, The Singapore and Melaka Straits. Violence, Security and Diplomacy in the 17th Century, Singapore and Leiden: NUS Press and KITLV Press, 2010.
https://www.academia.edu/4302722
Borschberg, Peter, Jacques de Coutre's Singapore and Johor, 1595-c1625, Singapore: NUS Press, 2015.
https://www.academia.edu/9672124
Borschberg, Peter, "The Singapore Straits in the Latter Middle Ages and Early Modern Period (c.13th to 17th Centuries). Facts, Fancy and Historiographical Challenges", Journal of Asian History, 46.2 (2012): 193–224.
https://www.academia.edu/4285020
Borschberg, Peter, "The Straits of Singapore: Continuity, Change and Confusion", in Sketching the Straits. A Compilation of the Lecture Series on the Charles Dyce Collection, ed. Irene Lim (Singapore: NUS Museums, 2004): 33–47.
https://www.academia.edu/4311413
Borschberg, Peter, "Singapore in the Cycles of the Longue Duree", Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 90 (1) (2017), pp. 32–60.
Gibson-Hill, Carl-Alexander, "Singapore: Note on the History of the Old Straits, 1580–1850", Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 27.1 (1954): 165–214.