Singapore has facilitated crew change for more than 60,000 crew of different nationalities from more than 3,500 ships. This was announced by Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Mr Chee Hong Tat when he opened the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s (MPA) International Safety@Sea Webinar Series yesterday.
The International Safety@Sea event is organised annually by MPA for members of the international maritime community and practitioners to provide updates on issues pertaining to safety at sea, actively share best practices and experiences on maritime safety, as well as discuss issues of concern and offer problem-solving ideas.
One of the main points Mr Chee made was on the important role technology plays as Singapore moves to Phase 2 of its Crew Facilitation Centre (CFC).
The Crew Facilitation Centre in Singapore will be a Centre of Excellence for Crew Change Protocols to test-bed emerging technologies that support safer crew change procedures. These improved procedures will be published so as to share Singapore’s best practices with other ports.
Digital Solutions to Assist Crew Changes
A task force led by the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), comprising members from MPA, Singapore Maritime Officer’s Union and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen, has also been formed to work with stakeholders in the maritime industry on solutions for safe crew change under the SG-STAR Fund.
The taskforce has shortlisted two digital solutions companies – KaHa and Viatick – under a trial programme to provide wearables digital solutions that support overseas crew change processes such as quarantine and health monitoring. Both solutions are tamper-proof, smart wearable technologies, where companies can have better assurance in ensuring that seafarers had adhered to their quarantine requirements in their home country before leaving for Singapore for a crew change.
Launch of Phase 1 of Singapore’s national marine spatial data infrastructure
At the event, Mr Chee also announced the launch of Phase 1 of GeoSpace-Sea, Singapore’s national marine spatial data infrastructure, that integrates and shares authoritative marine and coastal spatial data and information from various sources and disciplines, creating the first-ever comprehensive picture of Singapore’s sea space.
The GeoSpace-Sea web portal will be accessible by participating government agencies in Singapore to begin with.
Subsequently, GeoSpace-Sea will be made available to more users from the public including academia, research institutions and industry so that end-user applications can be built using its data.
GeoSpace-Sea will support and enable solutions to tackle complex problems and future challenges in areas such as maritime safety, marine coastal spatial planning, climate change and environmental sustainability.
The second day of the event, taking place today- 1 December will feature three plenaries on the topics of “Mental Health & Wellness: Helping Seafarers Cope Better During a Pandemic”, “Ship Safety: Reflecting on Incidents, Causality and the Way Forward”, and “Ship Management: Lessons Learnt for Safety & Standards in the New Normal”.