Speech by Senior Minister of State for Transport, Mr Chee Hong Tat at the Singapore Maritime Week 2022 Maritime Manpower Forum

Better Jobs, Better Workplaces and Better Workers for Maritime Singapore

1.     We are rounding off this year’s Singapore Maritime Week with a focus on talent development. 

2.     As Minister Iswaran said in his Opening Address on Monday, strong talent development underpins the transformation of the maritime industry. In my speech during the Committee of Supply debate last month, I outlined our vision and growth strategies for Maritime Singapore, and how these plans would create rewarding career opportunities for our workers. 

3.     We first launched the Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map (ITM) in 2018, with a target to grow the sector’s real value-add (VA) by $4.5 billion and we also want to create more than 5,000 good jobs over a ten-year period from 2016 to 2025. These targets were proposed in a different operating environment. We did not have the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2018, as well as more recent disruptions to the world economy and global supply chains such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising interest rates.   

4.     When we launched the refreshed ITM earlier this week, we updated our targets over a six-year period after carefully reviewing the assumptions and likely scenarios for the next few years, such as the risk that the world economy could face headwinds in our new window period from 2020 to 2025. The updated targets of $2 billion in real VA growth (i.e. nominal VA growth minus inflation) and creation of at least 1,000 good jobs for locals between 2020 and 2025 represent a realistic outlook for Maritime Singapore. They also recognise our growth momentum and the potential for new investments in areas such as digitalisation and decarbonisation, to open up more opportunities for our companies and our workers. 

5.     It is not a given that we will achieve these targets because we are now operating in a more challenging global environment than before. However, we have confidence in our strengths and capabilities, which can be seen from the sector’s resilience during the pandemic. In addition, we have an important enabler in Singapore which is our strong tripartite partnership between the Government, industry, and unions. This is a pillar of strength for Maritime Singapore as we embark on industry, company and workforce transformation.

6.     To create the 1,000 good jobs for locals, we will have to create more than 1,000 good jobs in total from 2020 to 2025. The companies that are investing or expanding in Singapore will require some of the newly created jobs to be filled by foreigners to complement our local workforce, especially in areas where we do not have enough locals or where specialised skills are needed. This is why I believe it is very important for Singapore to remain open and connected to the world, and to welcome international talent to complement our local workforce, if we want to remain competitive as a maritime hub and achieve our growth targets and create good jobs for our people. It is not possible for an inward-looking society to be a maritime hub. There is no such thing as an inward-looking hub.  

7.     In an earlier speech in Parliament, I spoke about a stone boat built by Emperor Qianlong in the Summer Palace in Beijing. He hoped the Qing Dynasty would be like the stone boat – unshakeable and unsinkable. Unfortunately, the stone boat is also un-sailable. And we know what eventually happened to the Qing Dynasty, because it became an inward-looking society that was risk-averse and resistant to change. When we build ships, it is not to anchor them in the harbour or in some lake in the Summer Palace. It is to sail out to the oceans and reach new lands. The key to surviving stormy seas and navigating uncharted waters is to build well-equipped ships and to have a well-trained crew.  

8.     Today, I will speak about how we will partner maritime companies and unions to attract talent, nurture our workforce, and transform workplaces. Together, we can create better jobs, better workplaces and better workers for Maritime Singapore.

Attracting Talent through a Sense of Purpose

9.     The author of “The Little Prince”, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, said: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” Beyond paying competitive salaries and offering good progression opportunities, which are important, we need to attract young locals to pursue maritime careers by giving them a strong sense of purpose and let them know how they can contribute to a better future.  

10.    Maritime workers make important contributions to a vital industry that underpins Singapore’s survival and prosperity. They play a key role in keeping global supply chains going, and ensuring that communities have access to essential goods. At a recent logistics industry forum, I said supply chain management is like breathing. When we are able to breathe freely, we forget that air is critical for our survival. Likewise, it is only when the flow of goods is disrupted and blocked that we appreciate the importance of smooth-flowing and resilient supply chains, and the vital role which our maritime companies and workers play.  

11.    In addition, there are emerging challenges with digitalisation and decarbonisation which will open up new opportunities to make the maritime sector a more efficient and sustainable industry. Whether you are a student looking for a promising industry to start your professional journey, or a mid-career individual looking for a new job, there are multiple pathways for you to join the maritime sector and make a difference. 

12.    Students can pursue maritime-related courses, such as nautical studies and maritime business, at our institutes of higher learning (IHLs). Those who want to sign up for a career at sea can work towards obtaining their Certificates of Competency (CoC) through courses offered by the Singapore Maritime Academy. Our tripartite partners also provide scholarships and awards, such as the Tripartite Maritime Scholarship, to support and develop our local seafarers. 

13.    We continue to work with our IHLs to grow the pipeline of maritime students. For example, NTU has increased the intake for its Bachelor of Science in Maritime Studies by more than 30%, from around 80 annually to 111 last year, and is aiming for a cohort size of 120 in 2022. 

14.    We have a compelling offering for our youths to benefit from the many exciting opportunities in the maritime sector. But we need advocates to help spread this message. MPA and SMF will be rolling out the MaritimeSG Youth Ambassadors programme. We will bring on board youths who are passionate about maritime issues to engage their peers and let them know more about what MaritimeSG offers. We look forward to appointing our first batch of Youth Ambassadors next month. 

15.    Mid-career workers who are interested in maritime can join the Career Conversion Programme for Sea Transport Professionals and Associates to undergo skills conversion. Since 2018, around 200 mid-career individuals have benefited from this programme. I would also like to congratulate the 20 graduates of the CoC Class 4 and 5 Special Limit Training Programme who are here with us today. You have successfully completed your rigorous training to serve on board harbour craft operating within Singapore’s port waters. Welcome to the maritime sector, and I wish you all the best as you set sail on your seafaring careers.

Nurturing our Workforce through Continual Learning 

16.    Attracting good people into our sector is important, but that is only the first step. We must also offer rewarding careers with ample opportunities for continuous learning and skills upgrading, for both seafaring and shore-based roles. Seafarers can work towards becoming ship masters or chief engineers after attaining their CoC Class 1. They can also transit to senior shore-based management roles such as marine superintendents or technical superintendents after spending some time at sea. 

17.    To provide more support for our local seafarers, we have launched the Sail Milestone Achievement Programme (SailMAP), to provide each seafarer with up to $50,000 when they attain key career milestones. This includes a bonus of $10,000 when they sign-on to their first vessel as a CoC Class 3 or 5 holder. The incentive payments help to support their income when they are not sailing, so that they can focus on upgrading their seafaring skills and knowledge during these periods. 

18.    MPA has also worked with our IHLs to offer senior seafarers the opportunity to pursue advanced studies, to ease their transition into shore-based roles. Seafarers with the CoC 1 qualification can apply to NTU’s Master of Science in Maritime Studies or NUS’s Master of Science in Maritime Technology and Management. This recognises that our CoC 1 holders have acquired valuable work experience and skills in the maritime sector, and they are ready to pursue a Master of Science together with their peers with university degrees. 

19.    For shore-based workers, we have various training courses supported by our Maritime Cluster Fund, to equip our workers with new skills and knowledge, in areas such as sustainability and digitalisation. We will also continue to invest in grooming leaders and managers through initiatives such as the Maritime Leadership Programme. In a global business like maritime, our local talents must have international exposure in order to take on senior leadership roles. MPA offers the Overseas Attachment scheme and Global Talent Programme to encourage companies to provide such opportunities for locals. 

20.    We are keen to groom a pipeline of local talents who have a good understanding of Southeast Asia and can develop strong professional networks with their foreign partners. They will play a key role in helping their companies to benefit from our region’s dynamism and growth. MPA will enhance the co-funding support under the Overseas Attachment scheme and Global Talent Programme. 

21.    To place greater emphasis on Southeast Asia, the quantum of support will be 20% higher for employees who are sent to ASEAN countries, compared to other locations. We will still provide funding for employees sent for attachments to other locations, but if you send your employees to ASEAN countries, we will fund you 20% more.

22.    Besides sending our local workers overseas for their development, our maritime hub must also remain open to ideas and talent from abroad. MPA is working with our tripartite partners to attract seafarers from our region to train in Singapore and further their careers with Maritime Singapore. Not all of them will remain in Singapore after their training, but they will form an alumni network of sorts for Maritime Singapore to tap on.

23.    We are working out the details, but the concept is to make Singapore a regional training centre for maritime skills upgrading for our workers. It will be a win-win for the region, for our companies, and for our workers. We can do this because we have a trusted brand name, good connectivity, and quality training courses offered by our unions and IHLs.  

24.    Another area is technology and innovation. Maritime leaders can benefit from views and experiences of professionals and experts from around the world. This is why MPA Academy launched the inaugural Maritime Transformation and Innovation Programme, which was held alongside the Singapore Maritime Week this year. The programme brought together 20 senior officers in maritime administrations from 15 countries, to learn and share valuable insights on innovation, transformation, and change management in their organisations.

Transforming our Workplaces 

25.    I have covered attracting talent and nurturing our workforce. Last but not least, maritime companies must continue to work closely with government and unions to transform our workplaces through job redesign, so that we can make every job a better job and we can then better attract and retain local workers. 

26.    To explore the potential of Job Redesign, MPA has worked with SMF to initiate trials for suitable job roles in the sector. For example, technical superintendents oversee the safe and efficient operation of ships. This is an important and good job, which is essential for the maritime sector. However, our pool of qualified local talents is at this moment still very small, because the job traditionally needs extensive seafaring experience. 

27.    If the job could be redesigned and restructured to enable those with fewer years of seafaring experience to perform the role, this would open up opportunities for more locals to take on such jobs. Of course, we must make sure safety and quality standards are maintained. But if we are able to reduce the number of years of prior seafaring experience needed so that workers can pick up skills on the job through job redesign and the use of technology, I think this will be a win-win for our industry and for our workers.

28.    We hope to share the outcomes and key takeaways from the pilot job redesign trials at the end of this year, so that we can encourage adoption of Job Redesign by more maritime companies. If you are a company looking to kickstart your job redesign efforts, I would like to make a pitch for you to consider setting up a Company Training Committee (CTC). This is done together with our unions. 

29.    CTCs provide a useful tripartite collaboration platform to help companies customise and develop strategic business transformation plans, strengthen business capabilities, redesign jobs, and upskill workers. We have received positive feedback from companies like Smit Singapore, which formed a CTC with the Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Employees’ Union in 2020. 

30.    Smit Singapore went through NTUC’s Operations and Technology Roadmap workshops and produced a 3-year strategic plan with 16 action items. This included levelling up its staff’s digitalisation capabilities through training, as well as job redesign to future-proof their services. It is a win-win outcome for employers and for workers. I am heartened that Smit Singapore was convinced of the value of the CTC, and recommended it to their sister business units, Keppel Smit Towage and Smit Salvage.

31.    Our other maritime unions have also set up CTCs with some of their companies to pursue various transformation projects. To sweeten the package and provide further support for these efforts, I shared during the Budget Debate that the Ministry of Finance has given a $70 million grant to NTUC, to provide co-funding for our CTC companies when we embark on job redesign and other business transformation projects. This will help to make every job a better job, every workplace a better workplace, and every worker a better worker. We can then enable the better workers to take on the better jobs.

Conclusion

32.    Ladies and gentlemen, Maritime Singapore has many strengths, but our key competitive advantage comes from the quality of our people, and the strong trust and relationship between our tripartite partners. These assets have been developed and strengthened over the years. They may be intangible, because they are based on trust and relationships rather than any piece of hardware or infrastructure. But you can see the outcomes when we produce results and achieve more together.

33.    Unlike technology and equipment which others can buy, these assets and strengths cannot be easily replicated elsewhere. It is our secret or not-so-secret sauce to integrate the different elements of Maritime Singapore. I say “not-so-secret” because we talk about it quite openly and we encourage others to also adopt the same tripartite framework. We also want to learn from the best practices of other jurisdictions. But I believe that this is our important enabler in Singapore.

34.    I am confident that if we continue to build on this foundation of trust and invest in developing our people, both growing our local workforce and also remaining open to complementary foreign talent, Maritime Singapore can sail further and grow to greater heights for many more years to come. 

35.    Thank you.