Welcome Address by Senior Minister of State For Finance and Transport, Mr Chee Hong Tat, at the Singapore @ Nor-Shipping Seminar

An Ocean of Opportunities

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.     Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you today at the Singapore @ Nor-Shipping Seminar.

2.     This marks the tenth time that Singapore is participating in Nor-Shipping. I was glad to see Singapore companies showcasing their innovative products, solutions and capabilities at the Singapore Pavilion, which we launched yesterday. We are deeply honoured that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Norway had paid the Singapore Pavilion a visit yesterday.

3.     It is fitting that this year’s theme focuses on #PartnerShip. Amidst the changing landscape of the maritime industry, strong partnerships across nations, organisations, companies and individuals are more important than ever. We need to collectively address the challenges faced by the industry, and see how we can make the best use of our resources and tap on new opportunities.

4.     I am glad that Singapore and Norway have a strong and longstanding relationship, especially in the maritime domain. This partnership has enabled our countries to jointly innovate and explore opportunities to transform the maritime sector.

5.     Today’s seminar by the Singapore Norway Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Singapore Maritime Foundation, Nor-Shipping 2023, Norwegian Business Association Singapore and Innovation Norway is testament to the close collaboration between both countries.

Partnering in Decarbonisation

6.     Decarbonisation is a key focus for many countries, including Singapore and Norway. Maritime Singapore has been actively working with different partners on initiatives to decarbonise the maritime industry. By this, I mean both in port operations and also in shipping – which includes both domestic harbourcraft and international ships.

7.     MPA is working with industry partners, institutes of higher learning and organisations like the Maritime Energy and Sustainable Development Centre of Excellence, and the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation on efforts to develop, trial and deploy maritime decarbonisation solutions in Singapore.

8.     Norway has been a key partner in our decarbonisation efforts. At the port level, MPA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Port of Rotterdam in August last year to establish a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor. The corridor will pilot the deployment of digital solutions, support investment in green infrastructure, and develop enablers to accelerate low and zero carbon shipping.

9.     We are exploring similar collaborations with other ports around the world. MPA had also signed an agreement with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in the USA, to establish a Green and Digital Shipping Corridor. During the Singapore Maritime Week in April this year, we had also shared some of these updates.

10.    At the country level, we are working closely with like-minded partners to accelerate the deployment of solutions to reduce carbon emissions. In March this year, the International Maritime Organization, the Ministry of Climate and Environment of Norway and MPA signed a MOU to bring together Norway’s GreenVoyage 2050 project and Singapore’s NextGen Connect Initiative. This collaboration will allow us to better support developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions from ships and in ports.

11.    Just a few weeks ago, MPA worked with the Embassy of France in Singapore and Innovation Norway to convene a scenario-based workshop on ammonia bunkering safety. Over 70 participants from 12 countries, including port authorities, emergency response agencies, maritime classification societies, research institutes and knowledge partners, fuel suppliers, shipping lines and charters, attended this fruitful session.

12.    Today, I am happy to announce that Norway and Singapore will be taking a further step to strengthen our longstanding maritime partnership. I look forward to signing the Maritime Transport MOU with Minister Bjørnar Skjæran.

13.    The MOU affirms the close partnership between Singapore and Norway, and I believe this will further enhance our cooperation and knowledge exchange in areas such as maritime decarbonisation, digitalisation and innovation. This MOU goes beyond decarbonisation, because it also allows us to work together on other important areas like digitalisation and innovation, and these areas are all interconnected.

Collaborating in Digital and Technology Innovation

14.    We want to, for example, through digitalisation and innovation efforts, to improve the efficiency of ship operations. When we visited DNV yesterday, they made a point that often the first step to helping shipowners reduce their carbon emissions is just to make ship operations more efficient. This is something that all of us can do, but we need to work together to find solutions.

15.    In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore trialed the Maritime Drone Estate, an initiative by MPA. This was partly driven by obstacles faced in that period such as limitations on people going on board ships. We tried to think of a different way of solving the problem rather than doing nothing – so we used drones to deliver supplies and send 3D-printed spare parts to the ships in our anchorages. It turned out to be quicker, better, faster, and also cheaper.

16.    This is something that I hope we can do in order to innovate together, using digital solutions and technologies, and also to review our rules and regulations, to allow the implementation of new solutions. Safety is paramount, we do keep that in consideration, but we are also finding new breakthroughs that will allow us to push the boundaries.This would not be possible if Governments and industries do not work together. In order to support innovation, Governments need to be aware of the technologies that industry partners are interested in deploying, and industry partners would not be able to implement their solutions without adapting to existing rules and regulations, overseen by Governments.

17.    This partnership between Governments and industries is crucial, and this is something that I hope we can do together with our friends from Norway, and industry partners from both countries.

18.    We will also continue to develop a vibrant ecosystem to support innovation and partnerships that benefit the maritime industry. MPA and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) first signed a MOU in 2000 to collaborate on Research and Development, Education and Training in areas such as maritime environment, sustainable energy technology, offshore and marine engineering.

19.    The MOU was renewed for the eighth time in April 2021 and was expanded to include more areas of collaboration such as information communications technology. MPA also launched the Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund (the MINT Fund) in 2003 and the PIER71^TM Smart Port Challenge in 2017 to encourage and support the development of innovative solutions for the industry. I know many of the Norwegian companies have participated in some of these efforts, and have benefitted from the funding as well.

20.    Since then, MPA has committed S$325 million under the MINT Fund, supported over 100 Marinetech start-ups, attracted over S$50 million investments and forged collaborations with over 50 maritime corporate partners under PIER71^TM.

Talent is Key

21.    Underpinning our efforts to decarbonise and innovate, is talent. And talent includes both men and women. We want to make sure that the maritime sector remains inclusive, and we want to attract talented individuals to join the maritime industry, because they are going to be the drivers of the future of maritime. At the same time, there is also a large pool of existing workers that we want to upskill and we want to help them to make this transition, so that we prepare them for the future.

22.    MPA offers the Global Internship Award for students to gain on-the-job training and global exposure at reputable international maritime companies in Singapore and overseas, including Norway. When I visited Wilhelmsen earlier this week, I came across two fellow Singaporeans. One of them, Jessica, was posted here to work in Oslo for two years. Her colleague, Gareth, is based in Singapore but is currently here on a work assignment.

23.    Be it a longer-term attachment or short-term work assignment, these exposures are wonderful ways for our young people to learn more about one another’s work culture, and to experience the dynamism of different places and people. This is something that I hope, under the MOU, we can also support.

24.    We already have good collaboration on these areas, but there is space to go further. The Maritime Leadership Programme also seeks to nurture global thinking and leadership competencies for senior maritime professionals through seminars and local and overseas learning journeys. Such programmes are crucial to develop maritime talent and enable the exchange of knowledge and ideas, so that we can collectively address the evolving needs of the industry.

Conclusion

25.    I have covered just a few of the possibilities where Singapore and Norway can work together on, and I hope I have managed to give you a sense of some of the exciting possibilities of collaboration between our two governments, but also more importantly, between our companies. Not to forget our people – our young men and women, our existing maritime workers, or even people who are looking to the maritime industry for new opportunities, I hope you will make maritime your port of call.

26.    The theme of today’s session is, “Ocean of opportunities”, and it is really something that I hope we can tap on through our strong partnerships, and may the longstanding, positive collaborations between Singapore and Norway continue to flourish in the years to come.

27.    I wish everyone a fruitful seminar ahead. Thank you.