SUTL proposes berth fee cap amidst Keppel Bay merger concerns

Competition watchdog seeks feedback on proposed five-year pricing restrictions.

SUTL Group has proposed capping annual wet berthing rate increases at core inflation plus three percentage points to address concerns over its proposed acquisition of Marina at Keppel Bay, according to Singapore’s competition watchdog.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCS) is seeking public feedback on the commitments proposed by SUTL Group.

The cap would apply to all berth sizes and categories, including superyachts, whilst SUTL would be restricted from introducing new charges that could circumvent the limit, subject to specified exceptions.

Charter operators would also receive an additional 1% credit on wet berthing charges. SUTL has proposed not to terminate or refuse to renew charter operators' berthing contracts without specified reasons.

Available berths would continue to be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, without discrimination against charter operators.

The proposal comes as CCS raised concerns that the two neighbouring marinas may be each other's closest competitors, with commercial charter operators potentially facing the greatest impact from the acquisition.

SUTL Group operates ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove and plans to acquire Marina at Keppel Bay through its subsidiary One15 Marina KB Pte. Ltd.

The commitments would generally apply for five years from the effective date of a favourable CCS decision, whilst selected protections for charter operators would remain in place for seven years.

An independent monitoring trustee, subject to CCS approval, would oversee compliance and submit reports every six months.

The watchdog began its Phase 1 review on 27 February and raised competition concerns on 27 April. It subsequently commenced an in-depth Phase 2 review on 14 July.

The public consultation will run until 5 pm on 26 November.

A NOTE FROM SINGAPORE BUSINESS REVIEW

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia