By Ramesh Subbaraman
A call has been made to workers in PSA Singapore to boldly explore and embrace next-generation technologies and push the boundaries.
That is because tomorrow’s port at Tuas will be even more different, said Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan.
He shared his thoughts on the jobs of the future at the port during the 70th anniversary dinner of the Singapore Port Workers Union.
“We will one day say goodbye to some of the most physically demanding jobs within the port,” declared Minister Khaw.
Yesterday, today, tomorrow.
Reflecting on the earlier years of PSA, Minister Khaw noted that in the 1960s, stevedores used to load and unload ship cargo manually.
With up-skilling over the years, today’s port operations professionals have the technical expertise to remotely operate multi-million dollar cranes.
“This has not only helped us attain the high service standards for which Singapore has come to be known, but also enabled wages to rise as workers acquired new skills and responsibilities.
“Within the next 10 years, many of today’s jobs will look quite different. Some jobs will be made redundant even as new ones come our way,” cautioned Minister Khaw.
He sees two trends evolving. First, will be the increased deployment of automation brought about by the advancement of technology.
One example is the Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) that PSA has been piloting at the Pasir Panjang Terminal.
Instead of prime movers driven by humans, the driverless AGVs will ferry containers around the port at Tuas.
According to Minister Khaw, more technicians, engineers and software programmers will be needed to perform these tasks, and the Government and PSA will work towards upskilling workers.
Secondly, automation will be part of a larger move towards integrated, smart systems.
Minister Khaw explained that with the introduction of intelligent maintenance systems at the future port, technicians will no longer need to perform routine maintenance work. They can focus on higher-level and more complex tasks.
Such smart systems will be powered by data analytics, and will involve the collection of large amounts of data to identify patterns and trends.
“Our port will therefore need more data analysts and operations research specialists,” said Minister Khaw.
