Dr Lam Pin Min, Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health, launched the Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map (ITM) at the annual Singapore Maritime Foundation New Year Cocktail Reception.
Developed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in partnership with the industry, unions and other government agencies, the Sea Transport ITM builds on MPA’s strategic long term plans to develop Singapore’s next-generation port and strengthen our international maritime centre (IMC).
Specific initiatives have been laid out under the Sea Transport ITM to catalyse innovation, drive productivity improvements, as well as enhance the skills of the maritime workforce. The aim is to grow the sector’s value-add by S$4.5 billion and create more than 5,000 good jobs by 2025.
The maritime industry contributes 7% of Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs over 170,000 people. In 2017, spurred by improvements in global trade growth and the repositioning of major shipping alliances, Singapore’s container throughput grew by 9% to 33.7 million TEUs, from 30.9 million TEUs in 2016. (Please refer to Annex F for Port of Singapore’s Performance in 2017.)
Singapore will continue to strengthen its IMC to enhance its long-term competiveness and value proposition to shipping companies and maritime service providers. We will also continue to build up our connectivity to maritime clusters overseas to harness the extensive network effects of such linkages. This will help us remain a leading and vital node in the global maritime network.
Companies like CMA-CGM, COSCO and the merged Ocean Network Express (ONE), have grown their corporate presence in Singapore. For instance, CMA-CGM has established its Asia regional office, its global Navigation and Port Operations Centre and, more recently, its Asian digital activity hub in Singapore. It has also entered into a container terminal joint venture with PSA.
ONE has chosen Singapore as its global liner headquarters; COSCO has expanded its joint-venture with PSA for a third berth at Pasir Panjang Terminal. These activities in turn have drawn in other maritime services providers such as insurance, broking, financial services, classification societies, P&I Clubs, legal and arbitration.
Dr Lam said, “The strategies and targets set out by the ITM are undoubtedly ambitious. But with the strong partnership from the industry, the unions and government agencies such as SkillsFuture Singapore and Workforce Singapore, I am confident that we can achieve our vision for Singapore to be a Global Maritime Hub for Connectivity, Innovation and Talent.”
