Singapore’s maritime sector is undergoing though “challenging and yet exciting times”, said Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State for Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health, at the Singapore Maritime Dialogue 2018 (SMD) on Saturday.
The event centred on the theme “Building a Future-Ready Maritime Singapore” was organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA); this was the first time MPA teamed up with students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) to engage and encourage their peers to participate in the SMD.
The panel discussion saw 400 tertiary students being briefed by a team of panellists including Andrew Tan, Chief Executive of MPA, Desmond Chong, General Manager of Sinanju Tankers, Eric Chean, CEO of Ship Supplies Direct Pte Ltd, and Associate Professor Tan Kok Choon, NUS Business School, Decision Sciences (moderator) on various issues and job opportunities related to Singapore’s maritime sector.
“It is evolving, and the competition is actually intensifying by other ports in the region which are also following our footsteps and trying to get as much business as possible so that they may eventually pose a threat to us,” noted Dr Lam.
“But we must take effort to transform Maritime Singapore and ensure that we stay ahead of this power curve, and we must maintain our status as a vibrant international maritime centre and well-connected hub port.
“We are putting in a lot of efforts in ensuring this. One of these can be seen in our efforts to develop our Next Generation Port in Tuas. This is really a huge investment and is a great ambitious plan. Besides increasing its capacity to 65 million TEUs, which is about 15 million more than what we have currently, it will also be a smart port using automated technologies so that we can achieve productivity and efficiency.”
Lam continued to inform the audience of Singapore’s Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map that will help to transform the republic’s maritime sector to become more innovative and technology-savvy while creating more than 5,000 jobs for Singaporeans by 2025.
“Besides ship charterers, brokers, marine insurers and maritime lawyers, we now have data analysts, robotics experts and cyber-security specialists joining the ranks of maritime professionals,” he shared.
“For those inspired to take up a maritime career after this dialogue, there are many resources at the Maritime Singapore Connect Office you can readily tap on to find out more about the opportunities in Maritime Singapore.
“You can also reach out and talk to our Maritime Ambassadors like Desmond from Sinanju Tankers.”
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Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 29 July, 2018
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