The Straits of Malacca and Singapore is without hesitation, a vital sea lane of communication with the geographical advantage of linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Geographically, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore is shallow and fairly narrow on its eastern part and has created one of the most important traffic choke points in the world. Being a crucial sea-lane has experience the Straits with high density of vessel traffic. The increase in shipping activities has risen the challenge in safety of navigation and marine environmental protection problem which generally end up with huge financial losses for the seafarers and damages to the marine environment. Owing significant limitations in the geographical landscape, this article has primary objectives to examine how navigational safety and marine environment can be effectively protect using existing regulatory instruments. This article provides a review and analysis of existing laws and regulations to assess the status of navigational safety for marine environmental protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. The article also evaluates potential strategies to this problem using insights from literature. The article finds out that the littoral States to the Straits of Malacca and Singapore should adopt more forward-looking perspective in the formulation of legal measures to enhance navigational safety for marine environmental protection. The article finally suggests the potential strategies for navigational safety and marine environmental protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. This will help in setting priorities for future efforts in improving navigational safety for marine environmental protection with regard to international and regional initiatives.

Malaysia, situated between East and West, is an interface in world maritime trade, playing a crucial role in the business of moving container boxes in South-eastern parts of Asia. The prominent container terminals in Malaysia such as Port Klang and Port of Tanjung Pelepas are positioned among the top twenty ports in terms of volume handled. The annual average growth of throughputs in Malaysian container ports increased more than three-fold from the year 2000 to 2010. Within this context, the development of Malaysian seaports has been significantly influenced by three forces: increased use of containerisation, significant growth in domestic economic activities and ever-changing patterns in both supply and demand chains, all of which have led to increased transshipment activities and altered shipping routes. This phenomenon has brought dynamic change to Malaysian container ports, resulting in the establishment of new terminals and adapting emerging technology to enhance the ports’ ability to accommodate larger vessels and an increased number of containers. This paper aims to present the development of Malaysian container seaports by addressing changes to acreage size and handling volumes during the last three decades. The results of the analysis suggest that major Malaysian ports are experiencing an exponential growth in container trade with the expansion of port capacity following trade growth and need effective strategies to reduce the operational pressures of Malaysian seaports. The results of this research offer directions for development strategies of seaports by utilising the existing inland freight facilities as an effective strategy for capacity enhancement and develop efficient distribution network to meet future demands.