Chan was speaking at the 13th Singapore Maritime Lecture on Monday, which was held as part of the annual Singapore Maritime Week.
“How does a city-state like us survive – a city-state that has no hinterland? In order for our city-state to survive, trade is our lifeline, so we need to connect to the world as our hinterland,” Chan said.
The Minister singled out the three obvious physical dimensions of connectivity that Singapore needs in order to connect with the world – via air, land and sea.
The maritime industry of shipping and port operations is a must-have for Singapore, which needs to maintain its position as a leading maritime hub port amid competition and an ever-challenging global environment.
Seatrade Maritime News is reporting Live From Sea Asia 2019
“As the shipping industry redesigns its business models for the 21st century, Singapore must also rethink our maritime strategy. Our continued status as a global hub port and international maritime centre will depend on how well we can navigate the challenges and opportunities that come to fore with these driving forces,” Chan said.
“We understand the vagaries of global trade flows. So we reimagined what it means to be a Maritime City of Tomorrow. Not a localised port operator, but a global maritime platform that transcends our geography.”
Chan made the point that Singapore’s selling point needs to go beyond its geographical location. This means there is a need to broaden and deepen maritime services offerings with complementary adjacent sectors such as finance, insurance, commodity trading and logistics.
Hence in order for Singapore to survive going forward, Chan said Singapore would need to complement the three physical dimensions of connectivity with five non-physical dimensions of connectivity. They are talent, technology, data, finance and rules.
“If Singapore can leverage on these five non-physical dimensions to reinforce our survival and success, then Singapore will go down in history as the first country to transcend its geographical size and location. Our growth, our survival will no longer be constrained by our geographical size and location,” he said.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Maritime News to your Google News feed.
