Forum: Provide more information about maritime incidents to improve awareness

I was recently chatting with a group of new citizen parents eager to get their children into sailing and boating. They were proud to be part of this island nation and wanted their kids to embrace that identity – not just through leisure, but by potentially pursuing maritime careers.

However, their questions made me pause: “Is it safe? We saw videos of two boats grounded at the same spot within three weeks. Were people hurt? Are there other accidents that don’t make the news?”

As a maritime industry practitioner, I realised I’ve been living in an “echo chamber”. Those of us around for a long time are so used to how things work that we’ve stopped noticing the gaps. We might see a boat’s grounding as “part of the job”, but to many outside the industry it might feel like a red flag.

Think about our roads. On Feb 26, the Traffic Police released their annual report. It was sobering that 149 people died on the roads here in 2025. We know where the “black spots” are and the most common mistakes. This information builds trust instead of leaving us apprehensive about driving, because we know hazards are being managed.

We need that same “lesson learnt” culture for our seas. When two boats end up stuck on the same patch of ground in less than a month, it should be a major teaching moment. If that happened at a road junction, there would be clear advice from the authorities on how to avoid it. On the water, however, these incidents usually stay buried in technical circulars or live only as rumours and speculation on social media feeds.

If we want to build a true island nation culture in Singapore where parents feel confident about their children’s future on the water, the authorities need to bridge this gap. By publishing simple, regular statistics and incident reports in plain language, we can create more awareness and understanding of what’s going on at sea. Let’s make our sea safety as transparent as road safety. It’s the only way to give parents the confidence to let their children truly embrace our nation’s maritime heritage.

Kuet Ee Yoon