Singapore Maritime Week Focuses on Latest Trends in Green Shipping

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Royal Norwegian Embassy/ Innovation Norway, with support from the Singapore Maritime Institute, Research Council of Norway and Norwegian Business Association of Singapore, jointly organised the Sustainable Marine Transportation Conference 2014 on Tuesday, 8 April 2014.

The conference, themed “Green Shipping and Ports”, is one of the key events of the Singapore Maritime Week 2014. It aims to provide a platform for maritime leaders and experts to identify existing industry challenges and explore potential research and development opportunities.

“Norway and Singapore are maritime nations with different strengths – derived from something we have in common – namely complete clusters of the maritime industry. Innovation and collaboration are crucial to keep these industries competitive, and that is why we value our close partnership with Singapore”, said Dilek Ayhan, State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries.

Andrew Tan, Chief Executive, MPA said, “Norway and Singapore share a common vision to promote our maritime research and development efforts. This conference provides a good platform to profile the present and future technology solutions for both countries’ maritime industry, and highlight potential areas of exploration and collaboration among the industry players in key technological areas.”

Key international maritime officials and executives shared their expertise and insights throughout the conference. Dilek Ayhan, State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, gave a keynote speech from a governmental perspective on a green future for the maritime industry. Captain M Segar, MPA’s Assistant Chief Executive (Operations), spoke about a sustainable next generation port. Other distinguished speakers for the event included officials from the Norwegian Coastal Administration, Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute (MARINTEK), as well as representatives from the port and the shipping industry.

The first session covered the development of ports and ships of the future. The topics ranged from liquefied natural gas (LNG) distribution, small LNG carrier and eco-ship designs, to implementation of intelligent systems to manage port traffic and the move towards a greener and sustainable port.

Maritime operations and electronic navigation were key focus in the second session. Maritime experts shared their insights on improvement of vessel safety and navigation through electronic navigation systems, efficient ship operations, limits of ultra large container vessels and future unmanned ships. The sessions were capped off with an insightful panel discussion.

The conference was attended by some 200 participants from the local maritime industry, a Norwegian delegation led by the Research Council of Norway, members of the Norwegian business community in Singapore, Norwegian maritime trainees, and researchers from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University.