The Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) on Friday (12 January) marked 20 years of building strong public-private partnership at the SMF New Year Conversations 2024 held at Pan Pacific Singapore.

Mr. Chee Hong Tat, Acting Minister for Transport, graced the event as the Guest-of-Honour and addressed 280 industry leaders representing the diverse segments of Singapore’s maritime ecosystem.

Building on the strong foundation established over the past two decades, SMF said it is continuing in expanding its programmes and intensifying efforts to promote Singapore as an international maritime centre, and to develop a talent pipeline to meet the evolving needs of the industry as transformation gathers pace.

On the talent development front, a record 60 MaritimeONE Scholarships were awarded in 2023 by SMF and 31 partners from industry, foundations, and unions. Since its inception in 2007, SMF and its partners have awarded close to 600 scholarships, with a sponsorship value of SGD 16 million.

To augment the scholarships and to provide the youths with opportunities for experiential learning, SMF in 2022 launched the MaritimeONE Internship Programme. Over the past two years, SMF placed more than 100 students in nearly 70 leading maritime companies. Likewise, the MaritimeONE case competitions, which connect students with maritime business and plug them into topical issues such as the intersection of technology and sustainability, have seen robust interest among the tertiary talent pool with a record 345 registrations in 2023.

To give impetus to the industry’s drive to draw youths and young adults to the sector, SMF in 2022 began the “Own Your Future” digital campaign. As a measure of the campaign’s reach, the series of nine videos produced have been collectively viewed nearly 1.9 million times.

Finally, to spur workforce transformation, SMF in 2023 co-sponsored “The Future of Seafarers 2030: A Decade of Transformation” study with DNV to examine the impact of decarbonisation and digitalisation on sea-going professionals, and launched the “Maritime Workforce Transformation Guide” with Pacific Carriers Limited and Pacific International Lines as pilot companies to testbed the usefulness of job redesign to enhance the career development of a technical superintendent and vessel operator.

In his welcome address, SMF Chairman Mr. Hor Weng Yew affirmed SMF’s commitment to further strengthen Singapore's value proposition as a leading international maritime centre by enhancing interconnectedness within the maritime ecosystem and building linkages with other ecosystems beyond maritime. 

He also announced the formation of the first Maritime Mediators Panel (MMP) by the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) and the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC). 

Drawn from the panels of both institutions, the inaugural panel aims to promote mediation as an alternative means of resolution of maritime and international trading disputes. The cross-institutional collaboration will further augment Singapore's maritime dispute resolution landscape and strengthen its value proposition as a leading international maritime centre.

Another highlight was a panel discussion, which discussed a range of topics germane to the maritime community including the global and regional business outlook for the industry amid an increasingly complex operating environment intensified by competition and geopolitical risks, as well the evolving dynamics of the maritime workforce.

Mr. Hor Weng Yew, Chairman, SMF, said: “SMF has made a meaningful contribution to Maritime Singapore’s ecosystem over the past 20 years. We have and will continue to transform ourselves to be relevant to our stakeholders while being guided by our mission to strengthen Singapore as an international maritime centre and to build a talent pool to meet the evolving needs of the industry.”

“I believe the next phase for SMF’s evolution is to be a conduit for Maritime Singapore and other ecosystems beyond maritime. I thank our partners for supporting the work of SMF for the collective good. We will continue to build on this strong foundation of partnership and trust to do more to advance Maritime Singapore.”

Photo credit: Singapore Maritime Foundation
Published: 15 January, 2024