"Eventually we will be listed on the (Singapore) Stock Exchange the timing will be decided by our shareholder, the Singapore government," Khoo said. "As an organisation we are ready for listing."
While the timing of the listing is not yet known the organisation is actively pursuing several areas of development within its home base and abroad.
PSA has developed its interests well beyond the shores of Singapore and the Asian region with an aggressive strategy to win development rights and management contracts around the world.
Asian port companies are leading the way in the international field with Hutchison Ports International, International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) of the Philippines and PSA leading the charge to acquire long term contracts.
PSA's international ventures are continuing with the development of Sines port in Portugal. A 30-year contract was signed recently.
The Voltri terminal at Genoa in Italy has also turned around following an improvement in service levels following one year of PSA stewardship, Khoo said. "Initially the service levels at Voltri were detrimental to business but we have turned it around and now our customers are coming back," he said.
He cited container throughput improvements and quicker turnaround times for ships calling at Voltri as the main areas of improvement.
Further projects are planned in India and Brunei next year according to Khoo indicating that PSA will continue to pursue port development projects on a global basis.
Expanding the international base provides PSA with a diversified source of income, which proved to be a strategic lifeline for ICTSI in the past few years.
During the economic downturn in Asia ICTSI's domestic flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) suffered from falling throughput and revenue. The company has built up an impressive portfolio of international container terminal development contracts which provided the company with healthy revenue and profit which more than offset losses at home.
While PSA's massive hub operations in Singapore continued to record growth during the downturn, the island nation is looking well beyond completion of the state-of-the -art Pasir Panjang terminal, which will ultimately take the total capacity of the port to 36 million TEUs.
Whether a port of this size is this is desirable in terms of the effect it will have on Singapore's environment is a serious concern. Another weighty consideration is the cost of associated infrastructure. Will there have to be a massive road-building scheme to accommodate additional truck movements? Not necessarily, according to Khoo.
"More than 80 per cent of the cargo we handle does not leave the terminal areas because it is for transhipment, for the local cargo we have adopted a flow through system at the gates," said Khoo.
The flow through system involves the use of transponders attached to each truck which sends a signal to an entry point receiver, allowing traffic managers to monitor movements in and out of the terminals via the control centre.
In addition trunk roads leading to the terminal are constantly monitored for traffic build up this 'early warning' system allows traffic managers time to avert serious build ups at the terminal gates, Koo said.
While careful planning has allowed PSA to develop its terminals to accommodate future growth the development of ports and terminals across the causeway in neighbouring Malaysia heightens the competitive environment in the region.
Malaysian shippers are urged to move their goods through domestic ports and the opening of the first phase of Tanjung Pelepas port in neighbouring Malaysian state of Johor Baharu poses direct competition to PSA.
"Our markets extend from China to Africa and Australia, our competition is global we would even consider Malta as a competitor as it is developing as a trans-shipment hub and that can impact on our business.
"We have recorded growth of 20 per cent during the last five years and we are also adding significant value to the services we offer. We believe that that the premium carriers will continue to come to us because as a mega hub we have connectivity through all major trade lanes," Khoo said.
There is also vertical diversification for PSA as they have delved deeper into their markets looking at what customers and shippers need in terms of warehousing and logistics.
"We are the largest warehouse owner in Singapore and we have succesfully developed logistics operations in China, and Europe," Khoo said. The China operations include a joint venture with the China Merchants Group in Shanghai offering distribution services to companies like Philips and PepsiCo.
In the meantime, PSA has set it self a target of 750,000 TEUs per berth per year through existing terminals while the new terminals at Pasir Panjang are gearing up to handle a staggering one million TEUs per berth per annum.
"We aim to achieve these throughput improvements through increased automation and IT applications, this will allow us to maximise utilisation through our existing facilities," Khoo said.