Singapore’s MPA sets up new council to drive efforts for safety at sea

The NMSSC is chaired by professor Richard Lim and comprises of 14 other professionals from across the industry with extensive maritime-related experience.

“The port of Singapore is a busy port and it stands at the forefront of industry, technological and environmental changes. The opportunity lies ahead for the maritime and safety communities here to take leadership to spearhead appropriate solutions to address these challenges and changes,” said Lim.

“In its efforts, the NMSSC seeks to work proactively with all members of the maritime and safety communities in Singapore and internationally to ensure successful safety outcomes,” he added.

The first priority of the council is to address issues related to navigational safety and raise levels of maritime safety standards. NMSSC will also endorse safety initiatives by MPA and the working groups to spearhead safety efforts and public campaigns that will raise awareness on navigational safety and practices. In the long-term, the council plans to collaborate with other organisations and countries to promote a culture of maritime safety in the region.

Last year in Singapore waters, the incident rate is one of the lowest with 0.005 incidents per 1,000 vessel traffic movements, compared to 0.008 in 2013. For the first six months this year, the incident rate is 0.003 incidents per 1,000 vessel traffic movements.

On Wednesday, MPA also kicked off the 2nd Maritime Safety Forum as part of Safety@Sea Week 2015, a campaign launched in July last year.

“The results from our Safety@Sea Singapore campaign have been very encouraging. Ensuring safety at sea is a shared responsibility. We will continue to work closely with our industry partners to instil a strong safety culture,” said Andrew Tan, chief executive of MPA.

A collaborative effort with the private sector and maritime industry was hatched from the campaign, with MPA forming working groups with different sectors of the industry to enhance safety navigation in Singapore port.