Singapore's "First Lady of Shipping", Tan Beng Tee, is off to pastures new, but she won’t be leaving shipping.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)’s assistant chief executive of development will become executive director at the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF) on 1 January.
Tan is taking over from Kenneth Chia, who is preparing to step down at the end of December after three years in the post.
The SMF said Tan is retiring from the MPA with effect from 1 January. Her position at the foundation will "represent a new opportunity for her to continue her work for the Singapore maritime industry with her wealth of knowledge and experience", the group said.
SMF chairman Andreas Sohmen-Pao said Tan had been “instrumental in shaping maritime Singapore into what it is today”.
He added that he was looking forward to welcoming her to the SMF, where she will “lead it in the next chapter, including our work on maritime decarbonisation”.
Originally seconded to the MPA, Tan joined the regulator on a permanent basis in 2004 as its international maritime centre director.
She has been described by some as the most powerful woman in the nation’s shipping sector.
Talent development
Her task was to do what was necessary to accomplish the government’s goal of making Singapore a major global shipping centre. She was promoted to her current position at the MPA in April 2012.
Sohmen-Pao said that Chia had “expanded [the SMF’s] broad range of activities in the areas of talent development and maritime community building”.
“He has strengthened the work of the Maritime Singapore Connect Office, which connects jobseekers with employers; he has helped in the rejuvenation of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration; and he has overseen new initiatives like the Circle of HR Innovators, while managing the challenges of Covid-19 this year,” he added.
In July, the SMF held the first meeting of its international advisory panel on maritime decarbonisation, which includes a number of local shipping heavyweights.
In addition to Sohmen-Pao, other members of the panel include Cargill Ocean Transportation president Jan Dieleman; Pacific International Lines executive director Teo Choo Wee; and the chief executives of Eastern Pacific Shipping, Cyril Ducau; CMB, Alexander Saverys; and Pacific Carriers, Hor Weng Yew.
The advisory panel aims to “explore decarbonisation strategies, policies and actions to be taken by the local maritime sector”.
