By Geraldine Peters
Overview
A dynamic sector the world over, the Singapore Maritime Industry holds an important place within the national economy as the country largely depends on international trade. However, the Industry suffered a blow in the mid-1980s due to a recession as well as the heightened employment of foreign maritime personnel at lower wages.
Call To Action
Addressing the lack of Singaporeans within the industry and a decline in local interest, the S$2.4 million Tripartite Nautical Training Award (TNTA) programme was announced in 2009.
A collaboration between the Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU), Devan Nair Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), the programme not only addressed the shortage of seafaring officers on board Singapore-flag ships but also allowed the occupation of sea faring to be more accessible for those willing, passionate and equipped with a minimum ‘N’ level certification.
Key industry players have also made hefty investments totalling $22 million for a five year period to support the previously launched TNTA. The programme has seen nine cohorts of more than 220 TNTA cadets so far.
Updates
The Maritime Port Authority (MPA) publicly announced an injection of S$65 million into the Maritime Cluster Fund for Manpower Development (MCF-MD) this March. Talks are currently underway on how the funds will best be disseminated across the sector to benefit all types of employees.
To top that off, an additional S$15 million was recently committed to extend the Certificate of Competency (CoC) programmes for Deck Officers and Marine Engineers till the year 2017.
Tasked With A Mission
On 29 April 2015, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in his May Day Dinner speech that tripartism will help bring together all the key players of the maritime industry like unions, industry associations, government agencies and training providers. This will be done through the two tripartite task forces put in place – the Task-Force Sea and the Task-Force Shore, to help push SkillsFuture and in turn, keep Singapore Maritime Sector competitive.
He continued that as a start, MPA and unions are working closely with PSA Corporation and Jurong Port as well as the WDA’S Skills Development team to develop career progression frameworks based on skills and competency.
Source: NTUC This Week
