Safety vital as ferry services resume: Iswaran
Challenges involved as borders reopen, says Transport Minister at ferry rescue exercise
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A ferry collided with another vessel, which necessitated the evacuation of 82 passengers - that was the mock incident in the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's (MPA) ferry rescue exercise held yesterday.
The annual exercise has taken on greater significance as borders reopen and ferry services between Singapore and neighbouring countries resume.
Speaking to the media after observing the exercise, Transport Minister S. Iswaran stressed the importance of safety amid the positive response from passengers, operators and government agencies from various countries to the resumption of ferry services.
He said: "We need to make sure that even as we resume services that we do so in a manner that is safe, sustained and also able to meet the passenger requirements and operational requirements.
"Because the ramping up requires the mobilisation of new resources, bringing in of additional manpower, and this - we have seen across different domains and across the world - is a challenging exercise."
According to MPA, the number of ferry passengers travelling regionally is at nearly 40 per cent of pre-Covid-19 numbers. HarbourFront Passenger and Tanah Merah Ferry terminals are fully operational, with services to destinations such as Desaru, Batam and Bintan.
The pandemic led to the scaling down of MPA's ferry rescue exercise in the last two years.
Last year, 50 personnel took part, while in 2020, MPA could conduct only a tabletop exercise owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
Yesterday's exercise, held in conjunction with the annual International Safety@Sea Week conference from today to Friday, involved more than 200 personnel from various agencies - including the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Ministry of Health (MOH), the police and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) - and private companies such as Batam Fast Ferry.
The exercise, held off the western coast of Sentosa and at HarbourFront Passenger Terminal, had a scenario based on a collision between a ferry and a harbour craft.
Some passengers were transported to another ferry nearby, simulating what the process would be like if such a craft was within reach, while others were transferred to a life raft deployed from the distressed vessel.
Also involved in the exercise was the MPA Guardian, which was launched in April. It is a hybrid diesel-electric vessel that can conduct search and rescue, oil spill response and other salvage operations.
The RSAF deployed a helicopter to evacuate a dummy passenger.
On land, the MOH's and Singapore Civil Defence Force's medical personnel and triage facilities were deployed at HarbourFront, with police and immigration officers providing security and immigration clearance.
