The measures were detailed by MPA chief executive Andrew Tan at the Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) Forum on Friday as part of its Industry Transformation Map for sea transport.
Tan said the MPA which runs the world’s fifth largest ship registry, would in addition to recognising E-Certs issued by Recognised Oragnisations (RO), MPA will also issue e-certificates directly to Singapore-registered ships by the end of the year.
“The use of e-certs will save time and costs, reduce the risk of fraud, and do away with having to mail hard copy certificates to ships wherever they are in the world. We are one of the first flag administrations in Asia to test this out,” he said.
Looking further ahead MPA is looking at automated processes for verification of certificates. “In the long term, we are looking at reducing customer turnaround time through automation such as using robotic processing to verify certificates, automatic approval of armed guards and issuance of mortgage certification,” Tan explained.
Meanwhile MPA has been conducting trials on using drones for ship surveys.
“To make it easier for marine surveyors, we are developing the acceptance criteria for usage of remote inspection techniques onboard Singapore-registered ships. We hope to roll this out next quarter,” Tan said.
A quick show of hands among the 250 senior executives attending the forum showed just three currently using drones for such tasks.
The potential use of drones for surveys is high on many classification societies agendas. “Those from class not on this bandwagon I think are in the last century,” Tan quipped.
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