Singapore Wants 1,200 More Maritime Workers by 2020

zoom Singapores Sectoral Tripartite Committee for Transport (Sea) announced new initiatives to attract and help Singaporeans deepen skills and advance their careers in seafaring and shore-based sectors.  These initiatives were drawn up by the Sectoral Tripartite Committee for Transport (Sea) led by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). Comprising two task forces, the committee aims to address current gaps and recommend new initiatives to strengthen manpower development efforts for both seafaring and shore-based sectors. In the next five years, they hope to attract more than 1,200 Singaporeans to join the maritime sector as seafarers and port operations officers. Funding for these initiatives will be drawn from the Maritime Cluster Fund and the national SkillsFuture budget. In drawing up the initiatives, the committee focuses on three main areas; namely profiling and promoting maritime careers highlighting the multiple entry points and good career progression pathways; growing a pool of maritime talents through structured training programmes; and encouraging skills deepening and mastery. Initial measures that will be rolled out are aimed at encouraging more Singaporeans to take up key positions in seafaring and in the port operations sector. Measures targeting other maritime sub-sectors, such as shipowning/operating, shipbroking, shipmanagement and ship agency, will be rolled out when ready. MPA is committed to working closely with our industry stakeholders, associations, unions and other government agencies to attract more Singaporeans into both the seafaring and shore-based sectors, Andrew Tan, Chief Executive of MPA, said. This local core will support the growth of Singapore not only as a premier global hub port, but also a leading international maritime centre that offers a wide range of maritime services including chartering, broking, ship management, finance, legal and insurance.