SINGAPORE, 24 March 2025: Following a year-long renovation, the upgraded Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC)’s Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) officially opened at the weekend to support growth in travel between Singapore, the Riau Islands, Indonesia, and Johor, Malaysia, with self-service kiosks and automated lanes that speed up passenger processing.
SCC forecasts that 70% of ferry passengers will self-check in at 15 new kiosks once fully deployed by the end of the year. Travellers will no longer need to queue at ferry operator counters to collect boarding passes. They can scan their passports at the kiosks and print boarding passes and luggage tags. They can then drop their bags at six bag drop counters, up from four before the renovation.
The rollout of the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority’s passport-less clearance initiative further enhances the traveller experience in the immigration halls. Singapore residents and all departing foreign travellers can clear immigration using facial and iris biometrics when arriving and departing Singapore. They do not need to present their passports.
With passport-less clearance, it takes only about 10 seconds for a traveller to clear immigration, which is 60% faster than before. In addition, ICA has increased the overall clearance capacity at the immigration halls by about 50%, expanding from 12 to 26 lanes for arriving passengers and 12 to 20 lanes for departing passengers. The improvements are part of ICA’s ongoing efforts to provide a faster and more seamless immigration clearance experience while strengthening border security under ICA’s New Clearance Concept.
With the upgrade, amenities at TMFT include new F&B outlets such as Woon’s Kopi by Killiney, Subway, Luckin Coffee and Lepak Corner, an outdoor children’s playground, ‘flexi’ rooms which can be converted for meetings in support of business users travelling to Batam or Bintan, a prayer room, amongst others. Inside the departure area, there will be one more lounge in addition to the Bintan Resorts Ferries Emerald Lounge.
TMFT was officially opened by the Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Transport Murali Pillai on Saturday, 22 March 2025, marking the completion of the SGD20 million upgrade that started in January 2024.
Minister Pillai said: “The upgrading of Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal marks a significant milestone in enhancing connectivity between Singapore, Johor and the Riau Islands.
“More passengers can now enjoy the upgraded facilities when they pass through the terminal. These improvements will enhance the travel experience at the terminal and support more regional economic collaboration in the future.”
During the weekend, SCC welcomed the public to the Singapore Maritime Week 2025 / SG60 celebrations, organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). TMFT’s three-day Open House, which started Friday, 21 March, included a mini-travel fair for the public to check out the latest travel and destination deals and promotions to Batam, Bintan and Desaru, and a family carnival featuring maritime-themed games.
Tanah Merah is one of three ferry terminals and one cruise terminal operated by SCC. The others are its international cruise and regional ferry terminal at HarbourFront Centre and its domestic ferry terminal at Pasir Panjang.
