His Excellency Sebastian Breton Perez, Ambassador and Consul General of Panama.

Distinguished guests.

1        A very good morning to everyone.

2        Let me first thank ASA for inviting me to this wonderful dialogue. This marks the third year that ASA is holding this dialogue in conjunction with Singapore Maritime Week, and I am very heartened by the growing turnout each year.

3        Let me start by asking everyone two questions. Many of you are working in shipping companies. With a quick show of hands:

            a. How many of you have had to reroute vessels in the past few months?

            b. And how many of you have been woken up in the middle of night in recent months, because of sudden developments around the world?

4        Yesterday, we discussed it. We meet at a time of real turmoil. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted, affecting not just energy security and energy supply, but also the supply of fertilisers, helium and other basic commodities. The ripple effects are felt across our everyday life, from food production, manufacturing, to healthcare.

5        Oil prices have surged.

6        And I know many shipowners are grappling with tighter schedules, longer routes, higher costs, and more risk.

7        Today’s theme – “Asia in Action: Delivering on Shipping’s Shared Ambition” –is both timely and very urgent. I especially like the focus on the two words, “Action” and “Ambition”, because it resonates with Singapore Maritime Week’s theme, which is “Actions meet Ambition”.

8        Now, to set an ambition, we must do three things.

            a. First, we need to look back and review.

            b. Then, we need to look around and reflect.

            c. And finally, we need to look forward and redefine.

9        And that is how I will frame my speech today.

10        So, let’s start with history.

11      If you’ve been in shipping long enough, you know that disruption is not new. It’s just part and parcel of the business.

12      To go back in time, from 1967 to 1975, for eight full years the Suez Canal was closed. Eight years. Ships had to travel around the Cape of Good Hope. Journeys got longer. Costs went up. Geopolitics were looming large because of the Cold War.

13      But the industry didn’t stop. Trade didn’t collapse. We pivoted.

14      And when the Suez reopened in 1975, Egypt had already started to build the Sumed pipeline – a bypass for oil from the Red Sea to Mediterranean. VLCCs had become the workhorses for maritime trade, because longer routes made scale more viable and more efficient.

15      So, the constraints didn’t shrink the system. The constraints reshaped the system.

16      Closer to home and at the time, Singapore responded the same way.

17     Longer routes meant that ships needed more fuel and more repairs. So, we built up our bunkering and ship repair capacity. We did not wait for certainty – we built for possibility.

18      We made very bold investments in containerisation through the 1960s. This was before containers took off in the region. We opened the Tanjong Pagar Container Terminal in 1972, and when global container trade picked up in 1975, we were ready.

19      So that’s the pattern. We don’t just survive disruption. We build through it. Even now, amidst global uncertainties, Singapore is pressing ahead with the construction of our 65 million TEU Tuas megaport. We started building it in 2015, and it’s slated to complete in the 2040s.

20      Just a little titbit: I was working in the Ministry of Transport in 2010, and at that time we were planning for Tuas Port. Some 30 years before its completion, we were planning for Tuas Port. That’s a bold bet we’ve made – a project 30 years in the making. But it’s one that we believe will carry Singapore, and the Singapore port, into the future.

21      Besides building ahead, we must be nimble – not just in operations, but also in our mindset.

22      Disruptions are becoming more frequent. COVID. The blockage of Panama Canal. Liberation Day tariffs. And now, the Middle East situation. This is no longer once-off. It’s now part and parcel of our business and a very volatile operating environment.

23      Technology offers a way forward. Many operators are already using AI for route optimisation, fuel planning, and predictive maintenance. Ports are also using it to manage congestion and turnaround times. And that’s what PSA and MPA have been using as well.

24      We’ve also launched the Singapore Maritime Digital Twin: a real-time virtual model of our port to improve risk management and optimise operational planning. We look forward to bringing onboard more partners to work with us, because this digital twin is not just for MPA to use. We are opening it up for industry researchers to build their applications and simulation models, for data to be shared, and where visualisation can be done selectively.

25      We know these tools will not remove uncertainty. But they will help us to respond faster and make better decisions. In this very unpredictable world, that competitive edge makes a difference.

26      Next, let’s reflect on where we are today.

27      In many ways, Asia Pacific is in a very, very strong position.

28      The centre of gravity of the global economy is shifting eastwards. China remains a major export powerhouse. Southeast Asia and India are growing very rapidly.

29      And with this growth comes demand for shipping.

30      Today, Asia accounts for the majority of global seaborne trade – both as a source as well as a destination. With great market power comes great global influence. And this influence works best when it’s coordinated. Like Spiderman says, with great power comes great responsibility. So, this influence works best if it’s used responsibly.

31      And this is what makes platforms like ASA even more important.

32      ASA’s origins date back to 1992. It was a forum at the time, and its ambition was a bit more modest – which was to exchange views. Today, ASA is an association representing the largest, fastest growing market in the world.

33      But there is room to go further. And this is the moment where ASA can take greater leadership – to coordinate and align on regional positions, to speak on policy matters, to shape global regulations and standards, and to promulgate industry best practices and norms. Then, ASA can be an even stronger, more unified voice to represent your members’ interests globally.

34      I’m glad that ASA has chosen Singapore as your base, and is working very closely with other partners here, like the International Chamber of Shipping and ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre. Singapore will continue to support ASA’s growth here, and we hope to remain neutral ground where diverse views can meet and align.

35      Finally, let’s look forward.

36      For history may repeat itself, but the future is for us to define.

37      Let me take you back again to the 1800s when clipper ships stopped in Singapore to replenish their coal. Clipper ships are ships that run on coal. Singapore was also a hub for trading rattan, spices — and something called gutta percha.

38      Have any of you heard of gutta percha?

39      And that is the point I am trying to make here.

40      Because in the 1850s, gutta percha was somewhat a miracle material. It’s a natural latex from Southeast Asian trees. It was the only thing that could insulate underwater telegraph cables at the time. Without it, the first trans-Atlantic cable – the one that let London talk to New York in minutes instead of weeks – would not have existed.

41      In other words – no gutta percha at the time, no global communications. So gutta percha was like the semiconductor chips and GPUs of today.

42      And yet today, almost no one talks about gutta percha. No one has heard of it, because it has been replaced by better materials. Just like clipper ships that ran on coal – they’ve all been replaced by diesel ones. Going forward, who knows, maybe diesel ships will all be replaced by ships that run on greener fuels.

43      So, this is a stark reminder that what is essential today may not be essential tomorrow. And which is why we cannot plan for the future based solely on today’s assumptions.

44      Two major shifts are already underway.

45      First, decarbonisation. Some say that because of the geopolitics, the momentum on decarbonisation has slowed. But the direction, as we’ve heard from the conference yesterday, remains unchanged. In fact, in today’s environment, the transition to cleaner fuels has taken on other considerations, such as strengthening energy resilience and diversifying fuel options. That’s why even amidst all that’s going on, alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia are still being tested and scaled.

46      Second, digitalisation. AI and data are becoming part of our daily operations. Not perfect, but improving fast. In time to come, who knows, autonomous shipping may no longer be science fiction. In today’s context, we’ve been worrying a lot about seafarers in the Gulf. If autonomous sea-going ships were available, could we do a crew change? Sail the ship autonomously across the Gulf without seafarers, and get the seafarers in the Gulf to reboard there? So, some of these ideas are longer-term science fiction, or maybe not – and ideas that we need to think about.

47      Together, these shifts will redefine how we operate, how we train our workforce, how we invest, and how we compete. We won’t have all the answers now, but we need to start asking ourselves the right questions.

48      Because the next disruption may not look like the last one. It may not look like the current one. It may not be a canal closure. It may not be a geopolitical conflict.

49      It could be cyber. It could be climate. It could be something we haven’t even seen.

50      So let me end with this. We have made a lot of maritime puns this week, and I am going to add a few more.

51      A ship at sea cannot control the weather. But what we can do, is control its course.

52      Right now, the weather may be rough. But this industry has sailed through much worse. And each time, it didn’t just recover. It evolved, and it thrived again.

53      In Singapore, we have a saying – do not let a good crisis go to waste. Don’t just ride out this period of uncertainty. Build through it. Invest when it feels uncomfortable. Collaborate when it’s complicated. Speak up when it’s right. And use Asia’s voice to shape what comes next.

54      With that, I thank you for your attention, and I wish you a fruitful and productive day ahead.