A digital platform that will provide ship owners, terminal operators and marine service providers with real-time updates on ships' arrival and departure times at Singapore's port was launched as part of the Singapore Maritime Week yesterday.

The effort at digitalisation, one of the conference's themes, should shorten waiting times for ships berthing at Singapore, reducing business costs and the amount of carbon emissions produced when ships are idle.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said digitalPORT@SG phase two can benefit more than 2,000 maritime companies when fully operational and shorten port stays by up to a day or more.

Container lines such as Cosco Shipping Lines and Maersk Group will begin trialling the system this quarter.

Oil tankers and bunker carriers will also be included in the trial by the end of the year.

MPA said: "The platform provides real-time information for port stakeholders to better coordinate, plan and allocate port resources, so that calling ships can optimise their sailing speed, route or time of arrival to achieve berth-on-arrival and seamless delivery of marine services in the port.

"Besides helping to reduce the carbon footprint and reduce turnaround time for ships calling at the Port of Singapore, the platform can support marine service providers to better manage their resources."

Ships emit about 45 tonnes of carbon dioxide each day that they spend idle.

Phase one of the digital portal, which began in 2019, focused on consolidating the 16 different forms for port, vessel and immigration clearances into one.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said yesterday that phase one has already saved the industry about 100,000 hours worth of labour per year.

Clement Yong