Koreatimes.com, 27 May 2009, KEITH BRADSHER
SINGAPORE - To go out in a small boat along Singapore’s coast now is to feel like a mouse tiptoeing through an endless herd of slumbering elephants.
One of the largest fleets of ships ever gathered idles here just outside one of the world’s busiest ports, marooned by the receding tide of global trade. There may be tentative signs of economic recovery in spots around the globe, but few here.
Hundreds of cargo ships - some up to 270,000 metric tons, with many weighing more than the entire 130-ship Spanish Armada - seem to perch on top of the water rather than in it, their red rudders and bulbous noses, submerged when the vessels are loaded, sticking several meters out of the water.
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