The relentless pursuit of safety and efficiency

From lonely voyages with handwritten letters to shaping one of the world’s busiest ports, former port master Captain Lee Cheng Wee has seen Singapore’s maritime rise from the inside

Man in a life vest and sunglasses on a boat deck, looking out at the cloudy sky.

The first time Captain Lee Cheng Wee went to sea in 1974, the ocean felt endless – and so did the silence. A 10-year-old general cargo ship on an express run then took 30 days to sail from Singapore to New York. There were no computers aboard, no satellite or communication links, only a radio that could be used when they got close to port.

To cope with the loneliness, he wrote letters to his mother. Because his mother did not speak English and he had not mastered Chinese, Captain Lee leaned on a pocket dictionary to write to her.

Young Asian man with a 70s hairstyle in a white polo shirt smiles while sitting at a desk.
“Singapore continues to be one of the busiest ports (because) we allow ships to come in and get a lot of things done quickly”

- Captain Lee Cheng Wee, former port master

He waited weeks for replies that arrived in bundles. “When we reached port, we always looked forward to the local agent who would come aboard with our mail,” says the 70-year-old, a former port master. A port master oversees the safe and efficient movement of all ships in Singapore’s waters.

His career mirrors Singapore’s own rise to become an international maritime hub. He began as a harbour pilot in a still fledgling port in 1980, boarding incoming ships to guide them safely through local waters and into port.

Today, he is an educator, teaching overseas participants eager to replicate the Singapore model in their home ports.

Vintage photo of four men in white uniform shirts with epaulets at a party, reddish tint.
Person drafting blueprints at a large table, surrounded by industrial control panels.

Captain Lee Cheng Wee's career in maritime has taken him around the world while he worked onboard vessels.

If you ask him to identify a turning point, he won’t name one. Progress, he says, came in steady steps toward two goals: safety and efficiency.

Safety means vessels can enter and leave port without incident. Efficiency means less waiting at anchorage, shorter berth time, faster turnarounds. Every minute saved is money and risk avoided.

In the early years, that meant raising standards and capacity. He trained, examined and upgraded the harbour pilots to meet demand with rising traffic. 

Later, as a port master, he continued his work to modernise and professionalise the port.

In this role, Captain Lee implemented safety and environmental protection, tightening licensing and holding examinations for pilots, and planning sea‑space for anchorages and marine projects.

These changes seem incremental up close. Over decades, they compound. Even as reclamation affects sea space and vessel calls climb, the system moves more ships with more safety, in less time.

Man in sunglasses and life vest on boat, looking at a busy harbor with cranes.

“A shipping company only makes money if the ship is on the move. If the ship is stuck in a port, or gets damaged, then the ship is losing money. That’s why Singapore continues to be one of the busiest ports – we allow ships to come in and get a lot of things done quickly,” he says.

Keeping the engine of trade humming

Drawn to the ships she once watched from East Coast Park, she made a mid-career leap into marine engineering from marketing

Worker in hard hat inspecting green machinery.

The hum of the ship’s engine room is the sound she lives by.

Ms Siti Ainul Nellisa Mohamad recalls the feeling of dread when it once fell silent and the vessel went dark in the middle of the sea. With the engine out, the ship drifted at sea, and schedules slipped.

She and the team worked through the night to trace the fault. After 12 hours, they brought power back online and restarted the main engine. “We watched every gauge until it caught and ran steady, and only then could we breathe,” she says. “Those are my proudest moments – when something goes wrong, you find the root cause, fix it and everything runs smoothly again.”

On ships carrying cargo worth millions, a crew of about 25 keeps everything running. Marine engineers like Ms Nellisa are the unseen hands that keep the engines of trade running – and the country connected.

But the 35-year-old did not start off working in the maritime industry after graduation. Growing up, the ships off East Coast Park drew her eye, but she read business in university and started working in business marketing first.

The interest in the ships at anchorage never left though.

“There was always a sense of regret lingering in the back of my mind for not following my passion,” she adds.

Two crew members pose in a control room, one giving a thumbs up, the other a peace sign.

For Ms Nellisa, her fellow seafarers have become like family.

Despite the advent of satellite communication, seafaring is still a lonely job.

“At sea, you’re isolated. The ship becomes your country and your family. The first time out, the loneliness hit harder than I expected.”

She credits the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU), where she is now a vice president, for arranging meet‑ups with seasoned seafarers before her first voyage.

When she learnt about the Tripartite Engine Training Award – now refreshed as the Tripartite Maritime Training Award (TMTA) Engine programme – which helps mid-career professionals join the maritime industry, she decided to make that leap.

An initiative of the SMOU, supported by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the TMTA provides enhanced training and career opportunities for aspiring maritime professionals. 

Today, she is a 4th engineer. She is in charge of the machinery that keeps the ship safe and moving: She oversees the purifiers, engine-room valves, incinerator, oily water separator, and all pumps, as well as fluid transfers such as oil and water.

Young person in white shirt by ocean with green mountains.
“Singapore is my first (home), but at sea I feel at home too. It’s not just a job – it’s part of me”

- Ms Siti Ainul Nellisa Mohamad, 4th engineer

Whenever the solitude became overwhelming, one of those seniors would message her to check in and talk her through it. “Having seniors who’ve been there helps a lot,” she says.

Now in her sixth year, she keeps an eye on newcomers and reaches out proactively. “I’ll tell them, ‘I know it’s difficult – I am here to help.’” She’s also seeing more women come aboard than when she started in 2018, when she was the only woman on the ship, another reason she’s committed to paying it forward.

On contracts, she can be away for as long as nine months at a time. The longer she sails, the more the ship becomes family.

Two workers in orange coveralls in a control room, one on phone, one at control panels.

“It’s my second home,” she says. “Singapore is my first, but at sea I feel at home too. It’s not just a job – it’s part of me.”

Building an autonomous future

For twins Tz Yuan and Tz Lung, the sea is more than a career path – it is a living system they want to understand, respect and improve through technology

Two NTU engineering students in a lab, one holding a drone, near a maritime prototype.

In the years ahead, autonomy is expected to shape the next chapter of Singapore’s maritime progress.

With Tuas Port scaling up, the vision is a smarter, increasingly autonomous hub: automated cranes, autonomous tugs and one day, large vessels that can navigate with minimal human input. This would enable more traffic, with fewer delays, to push increased throughput in limited space.

Twin brothers Li Tz Yuan and Li Tz Lung, both 25, want to build that future.

“You already see autonomous tugs escorting ships overseas,” they say. “More automation will come in layers – cranes, yard systems, assisted navigation – and eventually big container vessels that can run largely on their own. We want to help build that.”

Man in water next to a grey catamaran-style autonomous boat. Lake, trees, and bridge in background.
“More automation will come in layers – cranes, yard systems, assisted navigation – and eventually big container vessels that can run largely on their own. We want to help build that.”

- Li Tz Yuan and Li Tz Lung, MaritimeONE Scholars

Their curiosity began at 15 on a family cruise. Says Tz Lung: “I remember seeing massive chimneys on the cruise ship, and being amazed at how this big metal block carrying so many rooms and facilities can float on water.”

They studied Marine & Offshore Technology at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and became MaritimeONE Scholars, now pursuing Mechanical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University. The MaritimeONE Scholarship is spearheaded by the Singapore Maritime Foundation in partnership with the industry.

In 2024, they led a Singapore team at the Maritime RobotX Challenge in the United States – a biennial competition for autonomous vessels operating in realistic maritime scenarios.

On site visits to the port and naval base, they saw the same ideas at work – unmanned vessels for patrols, automation to reduce repetitive and risky tasks.

Autonomous cars often grab headlines and earn column inches. But autonomy on the sea is harder.

D C 2025 Team At NAS As Space System Lab

Together with their Archimedes Autonomous Vehicles teammates, Tz Yuan and Tz Lung visited Nasa’s Space Systems Lab in 2025.

“The road doesn’t move,” says Tz Lung. “At sea, everything does. Things are dynamic.”

Ships operate with six degrees of freedom, he adds. 

Wind, waves and currents can push and rotate a vessel along six axes, often at the same time. This makes things much more complex than on the road. That increased difficulty inherently slows progress, which makes developing autonomous vessels much harder.

“There’re a lot of complications and testing required before wide deployment,” says Tz Yuan. “But each step improves safety and reliability.”

For the twins, the difficulty is the draw.

“Humans have explored only a small part of the ocean,” says Tz Yuan. “It’s unforgiving and full of uncertainties – you have to respect it.”

After graduation, the twins will serve their bonds in the industry – Tz Yuan at Ocean Network Express, and Tz Lung at Eastern Pacific Shipping.

They push back against the misconception that maritime work is only labour at sea. Shore roles in engineering, planning and data are growing. Students can also apply for the MPA Global Internship Award to get fully sponsored overseas work immersions in maritime companies.

Two young men in Singapore university polos collaborate on technical designs on computer screens.

The thousands of vessels that pass through our shores each day are a constant reminder to the twins of the sea’s importance to the economy.

Says Tz Lung: “There’s a constant flow of opportunity – it’s what keeps us linked to the world.”

BRANDED CONTENT

What the Sea Means to Us

Singapore’s lifeblood travels over the sea – bringing us what we need, sustaining our economy, and tying us to the world beyond our shores. Yet the people who keep this maritime engine running do so quietly, far from the spotlight, ensuring the nation never stops

At high tide on an island off the southern coast of Singapore, the sea rose to meet a wooden stilt house.

A young boy emerged from his door and dove straight into warm, green water. He spent his days with other boys in the kampung, swimming and chasing fish for the sheer joy of it.

Elderly man by a waterfront with boats and a cable car system in the background.

Mr Ramlee Ahmat recalls his life on Pulau Blakang Mati with fondness, noting that the area has changed much since his days of youth.

That boy was Ramlee Ahmat, who lived on Pulau Blakang Mati with his family in the 1950s. They were part of the native Malay community living on Singapore’s southern islands – and were commonly known as the orang laut (“sea people” in Malay).

Vintage black and white photo of young Asian boys, some standing, some squatting.

As a young boy, Mr Ramlee Ahmat (second row, fourth from right) attended Radin Mas Primary School on the Singapore mainland.

“Life on the island was free and easy, we could do whatever we wanted.”

- Mr Ramlee Ahmat, former resident of Pulau Blakang Mati, who studied at Radin Mas Primary School (second row, fourth from right)

Now 74 years old, the retired civil servant looks back on those carefree days with a sense of nostalgia.

“Life on the island was free and easy,” he recalls. “We could do whatever we wanted.”

While his days were almost idyllic and resort-like – a hint of what the island would be like when it was subsequently transformed into Sentosa in the 1970s – Mr Ramlee knew the importance of the sea from a young age.

It was everything: school, store and paycheck. The bumboat to the mainland ferried children to school as well as parents to work and grocery runs.

He remembers fondly his daily voyage across the sea from the Blakang Mati ferry terminal to Jardine Steps, where HarbourFront sits currently – a twice-daily affair that got him to school, eventually to office and back home on the island.

Large ship docked at a busy pier with people, smaller boats in the water, and "SINGAPORE THANK YOU" on a building.

A view of the pier at Jardine Steps in 1968.

Did You Know: Many maritime professionals don’t sail in their job

Many maritime jobs in Singapore are shore-based, spanning chartering, operations, engineering, ship broking, finance, law, insurance, technology and sustainability. Multiple pathways lead to a maritime career. Maritime professionals come from both maritime and non-maritime education and career backgrounds.

A trip down Singapore’s sea lanes

From an early settlement known to traders the world over to a modern maritime hub, the island has long leveraged its strategic position to shape the flow of goods, people and ideas across Asia and beyond. Trace the journey in these slides of how Singapore's maritime industry has evolved.

“Progress came in steady steps”

From lonely voyages with handwritten letters to shaping one of the world's busiest ports, former port master Captain Lee Cheng Wee has seen Singapore’s maritime rise from the inside. Learn how decades of quiet focus on safety and efficiency kept the nation moving.

Did You Know: Every ship movement in port is monitored and coordinated

Vessel traffic is managed 24/7 from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's shore-based port operations control centres. At any one time, there are about 1,000 vessels in our port.

The beginnings of a maritime hub

Today, that same sea powers a very different Singapore. Instead of nets and wooden hulls, its teal-tinged waters are fringed by ports, with container ships dotting the horizon.

Just like it has been the lifeblood of the land for generations, the sea continues to provide in myriad ways, anchored by the work of thousands who keep vessels moving safely and on time.

Singapore’s waters now carry millions of tonnes of cargo each year, including the steady stream of e-commerce parcels that land on Singaporeans’ doorsteps.

“It’s not just a job – it’s part of me”

Drawn to the ships she once watched from East Coast Park, she made a mid-career leap into marine engineering from marketing. Read on to find out why the sea is both her workplace and second home.

Did You Know: Maritime offers a career from sea to shore

Maritime law is big business

Practical shipboard experience has relevance in shore-based maritime jobs including those in operations and ship management, as well as maritime services (e.g. insurance).

What the sea means to Singapore

Now in his later years, Mr Ramlee lives quietly in a Housing Board flat in Hougang, where he settled after getting married.

It is a far cry from 1974, when he and about 500 others from his island and nearby Pulau Brani were resettled on the mainland. Pulau Brani itself has changed just as deeply, evolving into one of the terminals of the modern Port of Singapore.

When asked, he cannot place where his Pulau Blakang Mati house once stood. “I cannot identify the exact location at all,” he explains, adding that his village should be somewhere Resorts World Sentosa now sits. 

The quiet sense of loss is palpable. But one can also sense his resolve to remember what the sea meant to those who lived by it and what it still means to the country.

“Without the sea, Singapore wouldn’t have survived. Singapore has always been a link between East and West,” he says. “The sea was life… people should remember that history – and keep it moving.”

Did You Know: Singapore is a global maritime hub

Singapore is a global maritime HQ hub

Over 200 international shipping groups have shipping operations in Singapore supporting a wide range of shore-based jobs.

"It’s what keeps us linked to the world"

For twins Tz Yuan and Tz Lung, the sea is more than a career path – it is a living system they want to understand, respect and improve through technology. Discover how they hope to shape the future of maritime after graduation.

As Singapore’s maritime story enters its next chapter, it is being written by those who may never cast a net or steer a bumboat, but who are contributing in new ways – through innovation and building technology like autonomous vessels – to take Singapore into the future.

A record year at sea

Singapore’s port closed 2025 with record numbers – more than 44 million containers handled and nearly 57 million tonnes of bunkers sold, reinforcing its place among the world’s busiest maritime hubs. These figures are more than statistics; they reflect the smooth, reliable flow of goods that keeps Singapore and the global economy supplied and connected.

And behind this efficiency is a silent, unsung maritime workforce – from seafarers and harbour pilots to port operators and many more at sea and ashore, working quietly every day so Singapore never stops moving, and the goods we rely on, from daily essentials to our online orders, keep reaching our shores. This work continues as the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore marks its 30th year.

The infographics below break down these achievements, showing at a glance how Singapore’s port continues to power the nation’s lifelines and keep global supply chain flowing.

3.22 Billion GT*

*gross tonnage

New record of vessel arrivals

Singapore’s busy waters saw more – and larger – ships calling at port in 2025, cementing its role as a global maritime hub.

44.66 Million TEUs*

*twenty-foot equivalent units

Container throughput reached a new high

Everything from online shopping to pharmaceuticals and electronics moved through our ports to get to their destination, here and globally, safely.

56.77 Million Tonnes

of bunker sales

1.95 Million Tonnes

of alternative fuel sales

Marine fuel sales registered a record

Singapore is the world’s leading “petrol kiosk” for ships, and is moving towards cleaner fuels.

> 200 international shipping groups based in Singapore

Growth as International Maritime Centre

Over $130 million in venture capital funding raised by close to 170 start-ups since PIER71 started in 2018. Singapore remains an attractive destination for maritime business.

137.46 Million GT*

*gross tonnage

4th Largest Ship Registry in the World

The Singapore Registry of Ships is a responsible and quality flag trusted for its safety and governance.