Are sufficient numbers of tech students enthused enough to enter a career in maritime in Singapore? The latest chapter from our brand new, 60-page Singapore special.
“The maritime industry is on the cusp of a major transformation,” according to Hor Weng Yew, chairman of the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF).
“Whether it’s the imperative to decarbonise or the increasing pervasiveness of technology across all aspects of our business, these changes that are already picking up pace will require the workforce to adopt the mindset of lifelong learning in order to remain relevant,” Hor said while signing a memorandum of understanding this August with the National University of Singapore to jointly develop, promote and deliver applied data science and analytics courses tailored to maritime professionals.
At the recent MaritimeONE and Tripartite Maritime Scholarships (TMSS) awards ceremony, 63 MaritimeONE scholarships and 10 Tripartite Maritime scholarships were awarded to this year’s scholars. To date, SMF and sponsor organisations have awarded a total of 647 MaritimeONE scholarships since 2007.
In addition to maritime-related fields, scholarship recipients are enrolled in various courses such as accountancy, data science, artificial intelligence, business analytics, and more. There’s also the newly established SMI-MaritimeONE postgraduate R&D scholarship aiming to expand the republic’s maritime research talent pool, with efforts to deepen Singapore’s specialised R&D capabilities as a global maritime knowledge hub.
“With these initiatives in the pipeline to nurture a skilled, agile and diverse workforce that will grow our maritime hub, I believe that Singapore will retain its competitiveness and attractiveness to shipping companies worldwide,” Tan Beng Tee, SMF’s executive director, tells Splash.
“With the support of the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), Singapore can drive innovation by investing in research and development, fostering academia-industry partnerships, and incentivising tech startups,” says Pankaj Singhal, product director at Fleet Management. Strengthening digital infrastructure and promoting continuous learning will equip the workforce with essential skills, helping Singapore maintain its position as a global leader in maritime technology, he reckons.
While he does see an impetus from the government in driving students in to the maritime field, Vinay Gupta, who heads up Union Marine Management Services (UMMS), hopes to see more local talent fill up the slots.
“So far,” Gupta says frankly, “it is a long way from where we need to be. Shipping has to revamp its image and look more lucrative in terms of career opportunities and growth.”
Quite so, agrees Niraj Nanda, group commercial director at fellow shipmanager Anglo-Eastern.
“We need to raise awareness of maritime being an industry that is breaking free from its traditional nature and is enabling innovation,” Nanda says, arguing that other industries, often with less regulation, are able to present themselves as more exciting.
“We need to do better in being part of the broader conversation and highlight how we are contributing to causes that energise younger generations including the environment, betterment of communities, and collective wellbeing,” Nanda says.
This is not only a Singaporean problem but rather a global industry issue, points out Peter Schellenberger, who runs Novamaxis, a consultancy.
“The competition with maritime for tech students from often more sexy and less conservative industries that portray an easier semblance of purpose is a challenge,” Schellenberger says.
Exasperated, Philippe Lecloux, chief operating officer at Aderco, a fuel treatment specialist, reveals how his company abandoned sponsoring local trainees because, he says, it was leading to nowhere.
“This was not a matter of cost, it was simply about reaching the target of educating a new generation of seafarers,” Lecloux says, admitting that Aderco has now successfully engaged with a marine academy based in Busan in South Korea.
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