SINGAPORE – A new maritime energy training facility will be set up in Singapore progressively by 2026 to equip maritime workers with skills to handle clean marine fuels.

The facility is a tie-up between the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and 22 partners – including major marine engine manufacturers, trade associations, unions and institutes of higher learning.

Around 10,000 seafarers and maritime personnel are expected to be trained at the facility from now till the 2030s, the authority said, as some of its courses and training facilities are already available.

Announcing this at the opening ceremony of Singapore Maritime Week on April 15 at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said the facility will take Singapore one step closer to becoming the region’s maritime training hub, where seafarers can gain skills needed to work with alternative fuels.

Spread out across different locations in Singapore, the facility will include a new dual-fuel marine engine simulator to facilitate the training of safe handling, bunkering or refuelling of vessels, and incident management in the use of alternative fuels, said MPA on April 15.

Other features include the integrated engine room and bridge simulator by the Singapore Maritime Academy at Singapore Polytechnic for crew resource management training, gas and fire safety training facilities at Poly Marina operated by the Singapore Maritime Academy, and augmented reality-enabled scenario-based training developed by Singapore Polytechnic’s Centre of Excellence in Maritime Safety.

MPA noted that the setting up of the facility comes on the back of the recommendations by the Tripartite Advisory Panel, which was formed in early 2023 to identify emerging skills needed by the maritime workforce.

For example, maritime personnel can sign up for a course by the Singapore Maritime Academy on handling methanol as fuel for ships – one of the first such courses in the Asia-Pacific – from April.

The facility will also tap various partners’ assets and training technologies to upskill the global workforce.

Mr Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation, said early movers in the industry need to “secure the right investments” – including training seafarers to operate new technologies – for long-term solutions in the sector. 

The organisation welcomes Singapore’s efforts to facilitate collaboration among the stakeholders, including the facility, he added.

Separately, on the industry’s decarbonisation efforts, Mr Dominguez said at a lecture on the opening day of Singapore Maritime Week: “Saving the planet has a cost... and we all have to recognise as well that inaction could be more expensive in the end.”

Miss Gwen Neo, 24, third officer at British energy giant BP, is among the seafarers who may benefit from the new training facility.

It was a steep learning curve for Miss Neo, who took six months to familiarise herself with ship components and processes when she started sailing on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel in 2021.

As she has minimal knowledge on how to operate an LNG ship, she said the new facility will make it easier for existing and new personnel to gain in-depth knowledge on operating vessels using clean fuels.

Being able to train on simulators at the facility will also be a plus, she added, as it would allow seafarers to learn from mistakes they make during training, instead of getting into a real incident when they are at sea.

In his opening address at Singapore Maritime Week, Mr Chee noted the continued growth of Singapore’s port in the first quarter of 2024.

There was a year-on-year increase of 7.3 per cent in vessel arrival traffic to 792.62 million gross tons, as well as a year-on-year growth of 10.7 per cent in the number of containers the port handled to 9.97 million shipping containers or twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according to MPA.

In all, the port recorded a high of 3.09 billion annual gross tons in vessel arrivals in 2023 and handled 39.01 million shipping containers or TEUs that year.

Organised by MPA, the 18th edition of Singapore Maritime Week brings more than 10,000 maritime professionals from almost 80 countries together to discuss key topics such as decarbonisation, digitalisation and talent development, from April 15 to 19.

Noting that the international environment has become more challenging and, in turn, affected global trade and connectivity, Mr Chee said geopolitical conflicts – including rising tensions in the Middle East – pose a threat to international flights and supply chains.

He added that Singapore’s maritime industry is also working through changes in business models and technology, as well as new developments in digitalisation and decarbonisation.

To that, Mr Chee said, MPA is developing a maritime artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning digital hub with Amazon Web Services to pilot new AI capabilities for the maritime sector, such as route and fuel optimisation.

On the cyber-security front, MPA is part of the maritime cyber-security roundtable that is developing tools to identify cyber-security gaps in fleet operations and protect shipowners against them, added Mr Chee.

Among the new developments announced on April 15 is the addition of Hapag-Lloyd – the world’s fifth-largest liner shipping company – to the Singapore-Rotterdam green and digital shipping corridor.

Established in August 2022, the corridor is meant to accelerate transformation efforts for decarbonisation and digitalisation between MPA and Port of Rotterdam Authority, along with 26 global partners.

The partners are rolling out several trials to speed up the adoption of green fuels in shipping, said MPA.

Looking ahead, Mr Chee said Singapore remains confident that the global maritime industry will continue to grow despite turbulence ahead.

But he warned that Singapore “must not rest on (its) laurels” or “make the mistake of thinking that these positive outcomes will happen on autopilot”.

“A rising tide can lift all boats, but the boat and its crew can benefit only if they are well prepared when the water level rises,” added Mr Chee.

He listed three areas of development that would allow Singapore’s maritime industry to grow as a global hub: innovation, reliable and resilient operations, as well as talent development.

On innovation, the nation can provide a realistic operating environment to trial innovative maritime solutions, such as an earlier test it did for maritime drones.

Regarding reliable operations, Singapore can continue enhancing its connectivity to remain a trusted catch-up port, which it was known for during the Covid-19 pandemic amidst disruptions in port operations elsewhere.

For talent development, Singapore can invest in its maritime workforce to ensure constant skill upgrades with the establishment of training facilities and development of training curriculum.