Opening Remarks by Mr Murali Pillai, Minister of State for Law and Transport, at Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year Conversations

Mr Hor Weng Yew, Chairman, Singapore Maritime Foundation, Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.     Good evening. First and foremost, please allow me to congratulate Mr Hor for delivering a very good speech. I must commend you and your board members, as well as your partners, for doing such a stupendous job in attracting talent for Maritime Singapore. And not only that, to instil in them the values that stand them in good speed to deal with the geopolitical tensions and secure our future going forward.

2.     This is an opportune time, as the SMF New Year Conversations brings the maritime community together at the start of every year to connect, celebrate our achievements in the past year, and look forward to the new year.

Maritime Singapore in 2024

3.     I would like to start by highlighting some of our key achievements last year. 2024 has been a good year for Maritime Singapore. We registered strong growth to achieve record highs, despite geopolitical conflicts and strained global supply chains.

a.     We achieved a new record high of 3.11 billion gross tonnage in annual vessel arrivals from all maritime trade segments, cementing Singapore’s position as a global maritime hub.

b.     Singapore continues to be the world’s largest container transshipment hub. Total container throughput crossed 40 million Twenty Foot Equivalent Units, or TEU, for the first time in 2024, achieving a record of 41.12 million TEUs.

c.     Total bunker sales volume reached a record high of 54.92 million tonnes, marking a 6% increase from 2023.

d.     Singapore grew as a multi-fuel bunkering hub in 2024. Sales of alternative fuels crossed 1 million tonnes for the first time, with 0.88 million tonnes of biofuel blends and 0.46 million tonnes of LNG supplied. Bunkering of methanol is now available commercially and we conducted the world’s first use of ammonia in combination with diesel as a marine fuel in the Port of Singapore.

e.     The Singapore Registry of Ships also surpassed 100 million gross tonnage in January 2024, and grew by 8.5% to reach 108 million gross tonnage by end 2024.

4.     Our International Maritime Centre, or IMC, also grew steadily.

a.     We retained our top positions for both the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index for the 11th time, and the Asia Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain Awards, for the 36th time.

b.     Total business spending by key maritime companies increased to $5.2 billion in 2024, from $4.8 billion in the previous year.

c.     More international shipping groups established their presence in Singapore, increasing to close to 200 in 2024.

d.     Additionally, more than 30 companies spanning shipping, maritime services including insurance, broking and legal services, and maritime technologies, established or expanded operations in Singapore during the year. For example, MAN Energy Solutions invested $30 million to build their largest service hub outside of Europe in Singapore, while classification society RINA set up its Open Innovation Hub, managing their global research and innovation network from Singapore.

5.      On the global stage, Singapore was re-elected to the council of the International Maritime Organization for the 16th consecutive term. We will also host the first General Assembly of the International Organisation for Marine Aids to Navigation next month.

6.      We have also established new partnerships with like-minded partners to advance shared interests in areas such as maritime digitalisation, innovation, and decarbonisation.

a.      MPA established collaborations with Microsoft, Amazon and Google to support the development of artificial intelligence and digital solutions for the maritime industry.

b.      MPA also established partnerships with Suzhou Industrial Park and Hamburg authorities to advance maritime innovation, including through talent development and facilitating market access for maritime startups.

c.      To accelerate the maritime industry’s energy transition, MPA is partnering the International Energy Agency and International Renewable Energy Agency to bring together their expertise in renewable energy and maritime innovation, jointly advance the maritime energy transition, and establish best practices for low and zero-emission supply chains.

7.      I would like to express my appreciation to all our tripartite partners for your dedication and hard work, which have propelled Maritime Singapore to new heights over the past year.

Growing Amid Shifting Winds in 2025

8.     Looking ahead, we can expect some uncertainties. Our international environment has become more challenging, with evolving geopolitical dynamics amidst continued tensions, a resurgence of protectionist trade policies, shifting trade flows and increasing competition with regional ports.

9.      But with strong support from our tripartite partners from industry and unions, as well as partners across international organisations and governments, I am confident that the maritime sector will continue to grow.

Accelerating Industry Transformation

10.    One initiative we have embarked on is to create a more pro-business environment by reviewing our rules and processes to reduce compliance burden and lower our regulatory costs, where possible.

11.    I would like to share an update on the Artificial Intelligence tools – DocuMind and DocuMatch – which will revolutionise the current insurance certificate renewal process for Singapore Registered Ships and allow for instant certificate issuance. We have recently commenced pilot trials for these tools with a selected group of shipping companies, and will expand adoption to the whole of the industry by the second half of 2025. The improved certificate issuance process will reduce the processing time for new and renewal submissions from a few days and 15 minutes respectively to within 3 minutes, translating to savings of approximately 300 man days, or about $140,000 per year.

12.    MPA will expand the application of AI-driven tools in the coming years to improve the efficiency of maritime and port operations, such as the processing of ship certificates required for port clearance.

13.    We welcome more ideas and suggestions from all of you on how we can work together towards a win-win outcome which will benefit the industry and enhance Singapore’s competitiveness.

Building Strategic Partnerships at Home and Abroad

14.    Just as different crew members on a vessel work together to steer the ship through rough sea states, close partnerships across domains within the industry and with like-minded international partners prepare us for future challenges and to capture opportunities.

15.    For example, PSA recently established a Joint Venture with Evergreen Marine Corporation to provide long-term terminal capacity to support Evergreen’s growing global fleet. PSA and Evergreen are also working to improve overall efficiency and create synergies in container operations, such as by optimising planning processes, leveraging digital solutions, and improving vessel schedule reliability.

16.     International partnerships are key to supporting the digitalisation and decarbonisation of the maritime industry. To enhance the resilience, efficiency, and sustainability of supply chains passing through Singapore, we have focused on establishing and expanding Green and Digital Shipping Corridors, or GDSCs. We established new GDSCs with Australia and Shandong, China in 2024, and we are working to establish more partnerships in 2025.

17.    Our GDSCs have made significant progress. For example, the Singapore- Rotterdam GDSC onboarded five new partners and successfully piloted the bunkering of mass-balanced liquefied bio-methane, showcasing our commitment to facilitating alternative fuel supply chains. We are also set to commence trials on solutions for enhanced ship-to-shore data exchange, such as paperless handling and electronic submissions of port clearance data this quarter, marking a significant step to more efficient port operations.

18.     We have also collaborated with China’s Maritime Safety Administration to operationalise the exchange and acceptance of electronic certificates for ships travelling between Singapore and Nansha Port in Guangzhou. We can expect Chinese ports which handle significant import-export volumes such as Ningbo-Zhoushan and Shenzhen, and other ports in our region, to continue to register strong growth as trade routes shift. We plan to expand this initiative to cover our GDSC partners, which will represent a major leap forward in our digitalisation efforts and improve the efficiency of global supply chains.

Enhancing Our Maritime Workforce

19.    Finally, let me turn to our maritime workforce, the lifeblood of the sector. We must continuously develop our talent pool to equip them to seize opportunities amidst the industry’s transformation.

20.    The ongoing maritime energy transition presents a new challenge for our maritime workforce. MPA together with 51 industry partners established the Maritime Energy Training Facility, or METF, in April 2024 to equip maritime workers with skills to safely handle alternative fuels such as methanol and ammonia. All partners are actively sharing their unique expertise and collaborating to shape the training courses. I am pleased to share that 430 maritime personnel have completed training at the METF since it was established, a step closer towards our goal of training around 10,000 workers by the 2030s.

22.    I am also delighted to join our tripartite partners today to launch the new Maritime House, which will continue to provide affordable accommodation for seafarers transiting through Singapore. It will also serve as a resource hub for maritime professionals, with maritime training facilities and research and development centres, and as one of the decentralised sites for the METF.

22.    As a global hub port and IMC, we must accelerate Singapore’s development as a hub for maritime talent. To provide a comprehensive approach to talent development, MPA and SMF launched the Joint Office for Talent and Skills focusing on skills acquisition and career support at every stage.

23.     The Joint Office has made significant progress, such as by offering training courses tailored for the maritime sector, and connecting existing and future talent with our extensive network of industry partners across shipowners, operators, and maritime service providers. Through the suite of training and development support, the Joint Office will help ensure our workforce remains at the cutting edge of maritime innovation.

24.    The Joint Office will also engage companies to provide tailored manpower planning support and enable access to diverse local and overseas talent to complement our local workforce. The Joint Office has provided firm-specific advice to companies on their workforce strategies, based on information such as self- assessment outcomes for the COMPASS framework. The Joint Office also consolidates ground sensing of the impact of policies to enable future policy improvements.

25.    In addition, MPA will be organising a Maritime Circle of HR InnOvators, or CHRO, Forum in the first quarter of 2025 to address talent challenges maritime companies face and share about talent attraction and development initiatives that companies may tap on to support their growing business needs. MPA will also continue working with industry partners and local Institutes of Higher Learning on areas such as job redesign, to increase the attractiveness of maritime careers and expand the available talent pool for the sector.

26.    I invite all partners to explore the range of exciting opportunities and support that Maritime Singapore offers through the Joint Office and METF.

Conclusion

27.    Maritime Singapore has demonstrated adaptability, foresight and an innovative spirit to weather various challenges over the past years. While the winds are shifting and there are signs of rough waters ahead, I am confident that together, we will skilfully navigate headwinds and seize opportunities to bring Maritime Singapore to the next bound of growth.

28.    Thank you all once again for the partnership, dedication, and commitment to Maritime Singapore. I look forward to working with all of you in the coming year. Thank you.