Opening Remarks by Senior Minister of State for Transport Mr Murali Pillai at the MaritimeOne Scholarship Awards Ceremony

Mr Hor Weng Yew, Chairman, Singapore Maritime Foundation,

Scholarship Sponsors,

Industry and Union Leaders, 

Scholarship recipients,

Parents and family members, 

1.             Good evening. I would like to begin by congratulating all our MaritimeONE Scholarship recipients  – and equally, your parents, families and loved ones who have stood by you every step of the way. Tonight belongs to all of you.

2.             I would also like to thank our scholarship sponsors for your commitment to investing in the next generation of maritime talent. That is what makes tonight, and the continued success of Maritime Singapore, possible.

Building Maritime Singapore

3.             Let me start with a simple question: why does maritime matter?

4.             More than 80 percent of global trade by volume moves via sea. This means that most of our food, clothing, and what you see around us in this room, have crossed an ocean on a ship to reach us. The global economy runs on maritime. And Singapore sits at the heart of it.

5.             In 1972, Singapore’s founding Foreign Minister, Mr S. Rajaratnam, offered a bold vision of Singapore becoming a global city. We have no natural resources or large domestic market to draw upon. But he believed that these were not disadvantages if we were prepared to think differently. In his words, Singapore's hinterland should be the entire world.

6.             More than 50 years later, that vision has become reality. Singapore has grown into a global hub port and one of the world’s leading International Maritime Centres.

7.             Our geography did not guarantee success. What made the difference was our reliability, efficiency, connectivity, and above all, our people – driven by resilience and a dare-to-dream spirit. That is the legacy you are inheriting tonight.

An Industry Being Transformed

8.             Maritime is one of the most exciting industries to be entering. The sector is being transformed by two powerful forces – technological advances and the push towards decarbonisation.

9.             They are today already changing how our port operates, how ships are managed, and what skills the industry needs. Digital platforms and IoT sensors are generating unprecedented volumes of data across ships, ports, and supply chains. Tasks that were once reliant on manual processes are increasingly being optimised.

10.          We are riding the wave to seize new opportunities, building a smarter port through data analytics, digital technologies and automation. We are also trialling unmanned surface vessels to support hydrographic surveys, making marine operations safer and more efficient.

11.          At the same time, Singapore is strengthening our position as a leading multi-fuel bunkering hub. As the industry transitions towards low-carbon fuels, we are working closely with them to pilot new solutions, develop standards and safety frameworks, build workforce capabilities and anchor maritime companies and activities supporting the green transition.

12.          What this means is that the maritime industry today needs a much broader range of talent. We will always need maritime professionals with strong domain expertise. However, these foundations will also increasingly be complemented by the likes of data scientists, software engineers, sustainability specialists, drone pilots and system designers – interdisciplinary talent who can combine deep technical expertise with the ability to adapt and solve complex maritime challenges. As maritime jobs grow in diversity and complexity, wages have also remained competitive in recent years. Across the past decade, the sea transport sector has generally paid higher than the national median income. In fact, I took a look at the median monthly gross wages of over 500 occupations in MOM’s Occupational Wage Survey 2025, and the marine superintendent role is among the top 25 occupations with the highest wages!^[1]

Growing the Next Generation of Maritime Leaders

13.          The evolution of the sector is reflected in the diversity of academic backgrounds amongst this year’s MaritimeONE scholars. We are presenting 61 MaritimeONE scholarships to students across disciplines such as Maritime Business, Maritime Engineering and Nautical Studies, as well as non-maritime related disciplines such as Computer Science and Law. These total about S$1.5 million contributed by our sponsors.

14.          Some of our scholars stumbled upon the maritime industry almost by accident, and found that it offers far more than expected. Take Rohith Sasikumar, one of our scholars tonight, who is in his second year of pursuing Computer Science at NTU. His journey with maritime began with watching a YouTube video about the transformation of the Singapore Port. Curious to find out more, he attended Singapore Maritime Foundation’s CareerRealTalk session with Hapag Lloyd, where he had the chance to have a personal coaching session with maritime professionals. What he discovered was a sector far more diverse and dynamic than he had initially imagined, which he eventually chose to join. So this shows – not all social media is bad!

15.          There is also Tay Sai Kok, sponsored by Ocean Network Express, who is in his third year of Engineering Systems and Design at SUTD. During a university project, Sai Kok developed a model for optimising Just-In-Time vessel arrivals at the Port of Singapore. Through that experience, he found that the interdisciplinary skills he had been building in his studies – engineering, analytics and systems thinking – had a direct and meaningful application in maritime.

16.          Meanwhile, some others have had their sights set on maritime from an early age. For Verlynn de Silva, the journey into maritime began with a view from home. Growing up opposite the port, she saw the towering quay cranes every day and became curious about the world of activity taking place beyond the shoreline. That curiosity grew into a maritime ambition when she learnt about her family’s connection to the sector, through her grandfather who had worked in the offshore industry. Today, as a Year 2 Maritime Studies student at NTU and a “K” Line MaritimeONE scholar, Verlynn is following the path her grandfather charted.

17.          Rohith, Sai Kok and Verlynn’s journeys remind us that the maritime sector presents opportunities to everyone. It offers all who are willing to take up the challenge a chance to make a real difference in a meaningful and vital sector, no matter the currents that swept you to this door.

The Journey Ahead: School of Hard Knocks

18.          For all our scholarship recipients, tonight marks your setting sail in your maritime careers. We will work with you as a team. As students, programmes such as the Global Internship Award and MaritimeOne Case Summit present exciting opportunities for you to better understand the real-world issues faced by the industry.

19.          As you join the maritime workforce and advance in your careers, we want to equip you not just to succeed but to become future leaders who will shape Maritime Singapore. Overseas and global rotation opportunities, leadership development programmes such as the Maritime Leadership Programme, and training initiatives are available to broaden your skills and perspectives.

20.          Rest assured, our philosophy in people management is not to let you swim or sink. The marketplace today is a school of hard knocks but building up a strong talent pipeline is our key mission. Talent is one of four pillars of the Maritime Singapore Master Plan that MPA is developing this year and we look forward to sharing new recommendations in 2027.

Conclusion

21.          To our scholarship sponsors and industry partners – sponsoring maritime companies, Institutes of Higher Learning, associations and philanthropic funds – thank you for opening doors and investing in these young talents. With your continued support, we will build a future-ready maritime workforce and resilient global maritime hub in the years to come.

22.          To our scholarship recipients, you are joining the maritime industry at a remarkable moment. As a past scholarship holder myself, let me say a bit about what being a “scholar” really means.

23.          It does not mean that your paths are smoother than others or that things will be handed to you on a platter. It does not mean that your peers respect you as a matter of course.

24.          Instead, you must know that the strongest sailors come from a school of hard knocks and turbulent seas.

25.          There is no assurance that the sun will always shine and the clouds will always part. Instead, as scholars you should expect that the toughest most consequential challenges will fall on you – as our brightest and best. Respect is to be earned.

26.          Maritime Singapore has succeeded thus far because of the people who dedicate themselves to this industry, who are willing to adapt, innovate, and lead with conviction in the face of change. You too, will have the chance to shape what comes next in not just an essential, but an existential sector for Singapore.

27.          Congratulations to all scholarship recipients once again. We wish you every success and following winds.

28.          Thank you.

Note

^[1] Data pertains to all industries.