Mr Peter Ho, Chairman of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) officially opened the annual Seminar on Port and Maritime Research and Development (R&D) this morning at the Singapore Telecommunications Ltd Theatrette, Comcentre Podium Block.

The half-day Seminar, which is organised by the MPA for the second time is sponsored by the Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel). It attracted more than 130 participants from both local and foreign organisations. They include representatives from maritime and port industries, marine equipment companies, shipping companies, oil chemical companies, government departments, statutory boards, academic institutions and hydrographic offices.

The theme for the Seminar is "Maritime Research by the Industry". In his opening speech, Mr Ho said that the Seminar on Port and Maritime R&D was launched by the MPA last year as a forum to present R&D studies jointly undertaken by the MPA and research agencies as well as to promote the exchange of views, ideas and experiences on R&D work with the maritime industry.. Mr Ho also highlighted the importance of R&D to the port of Singapore and to the port and maritime industry. He said that through R&D, new products, innovations and systems that were developed could improve productivity, services and safety of navigation. At the same time, it created new opportunities for business development. In this regard, the Singapore government has made a serious commitment to the promotion of R&D work, making available a wide range of R&D facilities.

Some of the latest developments in maritime R&D undertaken by both the local industry and overseas organisations were presented in the seminar today The Seminar topics cover a wide spectrum ranging from issues on maritime communications to those on navigational safety and the marine environment.

The two keynote papers were presented by Mr Gerd Büttgenbach of SevenCs, a leading German ECDIS developer and Mr Tan Tian Seng, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. A paper on the recently launched CBT or Computer-Based Training system for Basic Fire Fighting was presented by Mr Woo Boon Siong, Adroit Innovations Pte Ltd. This was followed by a demonstration of the system during lunch.

Dr Tor E. Svensen, Managing Director/ Regional Manager S.E. Asia, Det Norske Veritas Pte Ltd, was the Seminar Chairman.

End of Release.