Representatives from agencies, organisations and businesses at the opening ceremony of the 18th Singapore Maritime Week. (Photo: mpa.gov.sg) Singapore (VNA) – The 18th Singapore Maritime Week(SMW) themed “Actions meet Ambition” opened on April 15 at the Suntec SingaporeConvention and Exhibition Centre.
Organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore(MPA), it is featured with more than 50 events from April 15 – 19.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Ministerfor Transport and Second Minister for Finance Chee Hong Tat highlighted thatMaritime Singapore has continued to grow year-on-year – a mark of theindustry’s vote of confidence in Singapore, and the strong tripartiterelationship between business, workers, and the government.
Looking forward, Chee said that Singapore aims to be a globalhub for innovation, reliable and resilient maritime operations, and maritimetalent, to better serve the current and future needs of our stakeholders andallow Singapore to contribute to global development and sustainability goalseffectively.
The SMW is organised around four pillars - decarbonisation,digitalisation, services, and talent development. More than 10,000 maritimeprofessionals from about 40 countries, including delegates from governments,port authorities, and international organisations, as well as industry expertsand thought leaders are expected to attend SMW.
During the SMW, a maritime dialogue was held on the topic ofSupply Chain Resilience, Digitalisation and Decarbonisation under themoderation of Professor Simon Tay, Chairman of the Singapore Institute ofInternational Affairs.
Speaking at the dialogue, Arsenio Dominguez,Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), noted therapid green and digital transition unfolding in the maritime sector, driven bythe targets set by IMO Member States in the IMO 2023 greenhouse gases strategy.
Dominguez said that IMO is on track to adopt mid-termmeasures by late 2025 to cut GHG emissions, to reach net zero targets. Alongside this regulatory work, there is a need to considerissues such as safety, pricing, infrastructural availability to deliver newfuels, lifecycle emissions, supply chain constraints, barriers to adoption andmore.
Participants at the dialogue discussed challenges thatthe maritime industry is facing; efforts and measures to address the challengesand seize new opportunities.
In addition, as part of SMW 2024, the inaugural Expo@SMWtrade exhibition, taking place from 16 – 18 April 2024 will showcase maritimesolutions by about 50 companies and startups./.
