Singapore is to offer 1,000 traineeships, company attachments and training opportunities in the maritime sector to its people.

The initiative is being led by the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), which has teamed-up with the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), maritime companies and institutes of higher learning.

The courses are being developed in consultation with industry stakeholders, including companies in the port, shipping and maritime services subsectors, as well as the SSA, to meet the industry’s longer-term manpower needs, the MPA said.

Other participating organisations include the Singapore Polytechnic, Singapore Management University, the National University of Singapore as well as companies including PSA, DNV GL and ABS.

“These opportunities will be progressively available in the coming months to equip trainees with skills such as automation systems and digital transformation, as well as maritime-specific skill sets such as shipping operations and maritime superintendency,” the MPA said.

Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s senior minister of state for transport said: “Our maritime sector is not only resilient, it is growing from strength to strength.

“This is the challenge we have set for ourselves — how to grow maritime Singapore and create more good jobs for Singaporeans.

In demand skills

“Besides creating new jobs, we must also help our people to develop the skills to take on these jobs in the maritime sector, which welcomes people from different backgrounds and age groups.”

Chee said the 1,000 opportunities will be for “in-demand skills” in the industry and can benefit the trainees if they subsequently join other sectors.

“This is the result of close partnerships between the public sector, industry associations, industry partners and institutes of higher learning,” he said.

MPA chief executive Quah Ley Hoon said the pandemic had “tested the resiliency of many industries and businesses”.

“Amid this pandemic, beyond normal operations, we continue to push ahead with digitalisation and automation,” she said.

“With maritime, Singapore’s industry transformation, talent attraction and retention are key in this endeavour.”

SSA president Caroline Yang said that while the pandemic has resulted in “uncertainties and significant impact” to businesses and individuals, it has also accentuated the need for companies and workers to “retool and reskill their capabilities to meet the transmuting global shipping industry”.

“We are heartened that SSA members are offering attachments to help displaced workers develop digitalisation skills for the transformative business demands of our sector,” she said.

“We hope more SSA members and the wider maritime community will participate in these traineeship programmes, to better equip ourselves to seize new opportunities when the economy upswings.”