His Excellency Mr. Joseph Del Mar Yap, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to Singapore,

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

      Very happy to meet with all of you here this morning. Thank you for inviting me to the 2nd Marine & Offshore Congress. I heard that quite a number of our SMEs are attending today; I hopethis is a demonstration of MPA’s commitment and support for our SMEs in Singapore. 

2.    The theme of today’s congress is on “Navigating Maritime 4.0”, and I was told that you would be keen to find out about the upcoming plans in Maritime Singapore. Before that, let me share quickly on our assessment of the current situation with 3 complexities, before I go into our three priority plans for Maritime Singapore. 

 

Three Complexities Today 

 

3.    Maritime Singapore has remained resilient and will continue to play our role as a catch-up port. PSA has re-opened 8 berths at Keppel Terminal, opened 2 berths at Tuas, and recruited about 3,600 frontline staff over the last two years. We hit a record-high container throughput of 37.5 million TEUs last year, and remained the largest bunkering hub in the world. More than 40 maritime companies set up or expanded operations in Singapore in the last 2 years. These included Swire Bulk and Evergreen Marine Asia. Our long term plans for Tuas Port also remain on track. This is a credit to the resilience and grit of every player in Maritime Singapore. Thank you all of you for playing a part in the resilience of our port over the last two years. 

 

4.    However, while many countries are racing towards an endemic phase, three complexities remain: 

1. First, global supply chains disruptions – resiliency has now come to the forefront. With the recent Ukraine war and global port disruptions, we are looking closely into how Singapore can play the role of a catch-up port. Fundamentally, there needs to be a rethink of how global supply chain can be more efficient and resilient. If not, we will all be looking at more contingencies and redundancies, adopting strategies such as partial reshoring, nearshoring or diversification. 
2. Second, the global energy transition is the topic of the day. While global shipping is still the most environmentally-friendly method of transporting goods, our sector is facing increasing pressures to decarbonise, and to do so very quickly. How, then, can global maritime stakeholders collaborate to accelerate and smoothen our green transition? 
3. Third, we are seeing accelerating geopolitical shifts. Nationalism and trade tensions have been simmering. While international trade will be here to stay, it could look different in the future – with greater regionalisation for example. 

5.    While we are facing these three complexities, we are starting from a position of strength here in Singapore. At the recently concluded Singapore Maritime Week, many international maritime companies continue to express strong interest in coming to, or pursuing new business activities in Singapore. These conversations at SMW revolved around 3 broad themes, which are also our three priority areas for Maritime Singapore – innovation, accelerating decarbonisation, and talent. Let me share with you some of the plans we are working towards. 

 

Innovation

 

6.    We all know that innovation is key. We have seen good progress in technology adoption and digitalisation in recent years, and we need to accelerate that. In fact, without some of these advancements, we would not have navigated COVID-19 as well as we did. 

 

1. Since 2019, we have made a concerted effort to shift documentation and regulatory process to digital. MPA created digitalPORT@SGTM, which consolidates 16 different forms across multiple agencies into a one-stop digital clearance platform. Apart from saving an estimated 100,000 man-hours for the industry each year, it allowed us to move to paperless and contactless port clearance. We are also actively looking for collaboration opportunities with other ports, to pursue data harmonisation through initiatives such as digitalOCEANSTM.
2. To further enhance supply chain digitalisation, we are also looking at electronic documentation. MPA is actively encouraging the use of electronic bills of lading (eBL) for cross-border trade. The Digital Container Shipping Association estimated that if only half of the container shipping industry adopts eBL solutions, savings could already amount to ~US$4 billion annually. MPA has co-funded 3 industry consortiums to develop and trial eBL solutions serving the wet bulk, dry bulk and container cargo markets, as we recognise that each market segment would have different circumstances and needs. We are also working with international organisations to improve take-up.
3. Creative Marinetech solutions also became more mainstream amidst COVID-19. Instead of boarding ships physically, surveyors can now conduct vessel surveys remotely. Drones are also being used to simplify shore-to-ship deliveries. The Marinetech space is showing great promise, with Google Cloud estimating that venture capital funding for Marinetech reached USD $11.3 billion in 2021, doubled from 2020. 

7.    As we develop these innovative solutions, it is important to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) adopt them. MPA recently expanded the Sea Transport Industry Digital Plan. It previously only covered the ship agency, harbour craft and bunkering sub-sectors, but now covers all Sea Transport companies. This programme will provide funding support to help maritime SMEs implement pre-approved digital solutions and enhance their operations. 

 

8.    Innovation is about collaboration and ecosystems. 

1. Our maritime innovation ecosystem has been a key enabler thus far. It comprises various pillars – Centre of Excellences which are developing expertise, Marinetech firms, start-up incubators, venture capitalists as well as maritime corporates. As Senior Minister of State Mr Chee Hong Tat announced earlier this month, we will be building The WAVES, an integrated waterfront landmark which will be ready by end-2025. We are very excited about it. Amongst other objectives, The WAVES is intended to catalyse maritime innovation by housing ecosystem players together, providing researchers and start-ups with co-working spaces for collaboration, as well as facilities to test-bed novel solutions.
2.  Collaborations across ecosystems, sectors and borders are integral to making maritime smarter and better. At the inaugural meeting of the Maritime International Advisory Panel (IAP) held during SMW, global leaders highlighted the need for such collaborations across governments, industry players and adjacent sectors. The goal is to adopt digital solutions that can strengthen the connectivity, resilience and sustainability of the global maritime industry and supply chains. We will take such an approach, working with like-minded global partners to establish digital corridors, involving sharing data via common platforms as well as enhancing data standardisation and interoperability. We want interoperable and inclusive systems, to enable global collaboration and solutions. 

 

Accelerating Decarbonisation 

 

9.    Moving on to decarbonisation, which is something the marine and offshore sector is familiar with – wind, solar, etc. This is a key priority, as we all want the world to be a better place in the future. While there are some technological, regulatory and commercial uncertainties, we do want to accelerate maritime decarbonisation and promote solutions such as offshore windfarms, or retrofits that reduces vessels’ carbon footprint. That is why we launched the Maritime Singapore Decarbonisation Blueprint 2050. It has ambitious goals, including making our ports net zero and reducing harbour craft emissions significantly by 2050.

 

10.   We recognize that green finance is needed to accelerate maritime decarbonisation. While there are players that want to embark on projects or do trials, but if we want broader adoption, especially by SMEs, green financing is the key. The challenge is to bring together like-minded players, as we need a significant amount of financing for maritime decarbonisation. MPA has committed additional funds of at least $300 million in support of efforts explained in our Decarbonisation Blueprint. Our goal is to work with like-minded players to snowball this sum, and offer a wide range of financing options depending on risk appetite – including potential new models or mechanisms. We are talking to both local and international financial institutions, and hope to get them onboard. At the same time, we need all actors to speak the same language on green shipping, via a green finance taxonomy. Work on these fronts are under way, and I am optimistic that in the next one to two years, we can grow these areas and have more players offering green financing solutions in Singapore. 

 

11.   Additionally, as a top bunkering hub, Singapore is preparing to support the industry’s multifuel transition. 

1. For international shipping, Singapore has already operationalised commercial LNG bunkering with 3 LNG bunker supplier licences issued, and has commenced biofuel bunkering trials since April last year. We are also looking into developing standards for biofuel to accelerate adoption on at wider scale. 
2. We are also actively looking at other fuels such as methanol and ammonia, forming value-chain ecosystems with industry players. We need to develop standards, infrastructure and supply chains for these cleaner fuels. The Maritime IAP suggested that like-minded port authorities and operators could create green corridors, to pilot practical pathways and spur momentum towards maritime decarbonisation. 
3. As for domestic harbour craft, in August 2021, MPA and SMI jointly awarded three consortiums to research, design, build and operate full-electric harbour craft with interoperable charging infrastructure in the next 5 years. SeaTech Solutions, one of the organizers of today’s event, is leading one of the consortiums. These efforts will help to demonstrate a sustainable and commercially viable pathway for transition of Singapore’s harbour craft to a low carbon future. Our waters are a test-bed and living lab for innovative and green technology, because we need to push boundaries and frontiers to make Singapore a green port. 

Talent 

 

12.   Finally, on talent. The sector is behind-the-scenes, so we need to bring it to the forefront and sell it better, to attract more talent into the sector. In the Singapore’s Best Employer 2022 Study, released by The Straits Times and Statista last week, it was encouraging to see a few maritime companies – DNV, PSA International and Maersk – ranked among the 200 most-attractive employers in Singapore. I hope to see more maritime companies on that list soon, so we need to do more to make us the most attractive employers. It would be good for maritime companies to carefully consider their value propositions and attractiveness to employees. For me, the maritime industry is a very global industry, and is fast transforming, which could be very attractive to young graduates. We should make a strong pitch for young people to join our sector! 

 

13.   We also need to prepare our existing staff, be it seafarers or onshore workers, by looking at translating future skills requirements to core competencies and certifications which we can prepare workers for today. Without this, we will not have the people needed to make the most of our innovation and decarbonisation efforts. On that note, I am glad to have visited the Centre of Excellence for Maritime Safety at Singapore Polytechnic, which has developed very innovative training techniques using artificial intelligence and virtual reality. This allows for more realistic training and holistic performance evaluation. We need to adopt and propagate more of such innovative training methods moving forward, and become a hub for training of future maritime talent.

 

14.   The same can be said for shore-based roles. Skills such as data analytics and green technology have become critical. Additionally, we must optimise manpower deployment, improve productivity and transform ways of work. MPA and Singapore Maritime Foundation are embarking on Job Redesign Pilot Projects, focusing on key maritime job roles such as vessel operators and technical superintendents for a start. We hope this will also attract more people into maritime jobs. Sectors and firms that can stay ahead of the curve in upskilling their workforce and redesigning jobs, would find themselves attracting the lion’s share of talent.

 

Conclusion

 

15.   I have talked about three complexities and three priorities for Maritime Singapore; I hope that it has been useful. These are global challenges we are trying to tackle, and with Maritime Singapore’s resilience, I am sure we can move forward, tackle these challenges together, and emerge even stronger than before. Thank you!