Opening Remarks by Minister for Transport Mr S Iswaran at the Unveiling of Shell’s Electric Ferry Service

Ms Aw Kah Peng, Chairman, Shell Companies in Singapore,

Mr Jeffrey Hing, Chairman, Penguin International Limited,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

1.     Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to the unveiling of Shell’s electric ferry service. 

Shell’s Longstanding Partnership with Singapore

2.     Shell has a very important place in Singapore’s history, spanning more than 130 years, starting with Singapore’s first oil storage facility by Shell in 1891.  Since then, the relationship has grown from strength to strength.

3.     Today, Shell remains one of Singapore’s largest foreign investors, and employs more than 3,200 people in Singapore.  Shell’s only Energy and Chemicals Park in Asia is right here at Pulau Bukom, and Shell’s largest petrochemical production and export centre in Asia is located at Jurong Island. 

4.     This relationship goes beyond just the economic aspects; over the years, there has been an important exchange of knowledge between Shell and Singapore. In the 1980s, the Singapore Government drew inspiration from Shell’s human resource management system in developing our own HR system.  In the 1990s, we set up our Scenario Planning Unit, drawing from Shell’s experience with Scenario Planning.

Shell’s Support for Sustainability Initiatives in Singapore

5.     While Shell may have started as a petrochemical company, as you have heard and as we know, it is going through an ambitious transformation effort as it takes on the energy transition.  In this process, Shell has emerged as a strong supporter and important partner in Singapore’s decarbonisation journey.  In particular, the decarbonisation of our transport sectors is a key component of Singapore’s national commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

6.     As a start, Shell will be deploying several thousand electric vehicle (EV) charging points across our HDB estates, leveraging Shell’s smart charging solutions. This is part of our national effort to bring EV charging points to every housing estate carpark over the next two to three years. Shell plays an important role in this, along with four other providers.

7.     Shell is also the first supplier of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) in Singapore and has upgraded its Singapore facilities to be capable of blending SAF. 

8.     In the maritime sector, FueLNG, which is a joint venture between Keppel Offshore & Marine, and Shell Eastern Petroleum, partnered the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) to conduct Asia’s first ship-to-containership LNG bunkering operation in the Port of Singapore. This was done in 2021 by FueLNG Bellina, Singapore’s first LNG bunkering vessel.

9.     We welcome such collaborations and we invite Shell to redouble its decarbonisation initiatives in Singapore. We have the opportunity to journey together, discover new solutions and scale them. On our part, the Singapore Government stands ready to support such efforts, so that we can seize new opportunities in the green economy together.

Shell’s Electric Ferry and Shell-MPA MOU

10.    Today, Shell is once again at a significant milestone in Singapore’s decarbonisation efforts – the unveiling of the first electric ferry service in Singapore’s port waters, using ferries built by Penguin International Limited, a homegrown Singapore company.

11.    This early initiative can serve as a pathfinder for the maritime sector, as the sector gears up to fulfil MPA’s requirement for new harbour craft operating in our port waters to be fully electric, capable of using B100 biofuels or be compatible with net zero fuels by 2030, which is something we announced just last month.

12.    As you have heard, Shell will also be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with MPA on the development of maritime decarbonisation in Singapore, specifically in the areas of marine electrification and low or zero carbon fuels. This is another step forward from the 2017 MOU between Shell and MPA, which covered clean fuel technology.

13.    I hope that through this MOU and other collaborative efforts, Shell and MPA will work even more closely together to accelerate maritime decarbonisation, for both our domestic harbour craft sector, as well as for international shipping.

Conclusion

14.    I would like to conclude by congratulating Shell for achieving this significant milestone of unveiling the first electric ferry service in Singapore’s port waters. I noticed that the tagline of the ferry is “electric dreams”. If you think about it, we have all the ingredients – conducive government policy, multinational corporations who are prepared to set the tone and take the lead, and local enterprises who are capable of delivering solutions. 

15.    We also seek to energise the larger system including the financial services sector, so that coming together, perhaps the tagline will soon be “electric dreams… turning into reality”. 

16.    Thank you very much.