Speaking at the 30th-anniversary dinner of the Singapore Shipping Association, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said the shipping and marine industry contribute enormously for the growth of Singapore’s economy. Singapore’s maritime industry employs more than 170,000 people and accounts for about 7 percent of GDP. Since 2007, a total of S$115 million has been committed to the Maritime Cluster Fund – Manpower Development (MCF-MD) programme. It supports maritime companies in the development of manpower, training initiatives and building capabilities, said MPA.
Hence to attract more Singaporeans to pursue their maritime careers and boost their skills in seafaring and shore-based areas, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has taken the initiative. Maritime Cluster Fund and the SkillsFuture budget funds the initiatives. Measures targeting other sub-sectors like ship owning, ship management, and ship agency will be announced when ready.
The measures envisaged are:
- Significant investment to improve port capacity by developing a new mega terminal at Tuas.
- Continuous sharpening of maritime policies and schemes to meet the evolving needs of the industry.
- A public portal to be set up next year for maritime career opportunities and training-related information. The Maritime Singapore Connect (MSC) Office, to be formed which will run the portal. MPA will invest S$4 million to support the setup of MSC over four years.
- The MSC Office will also offer education and career guidance to link the industry with schools for internship and job opportunities by organising outreach events and publicity campaigns.
- The SkillsFuture Earn and Learn programme will be extended to the maritime sector by the second quarter of 2016
- Each Singaporean will get a sign-on incentive of S$5,000 upon successful completion of the programme and employers who sign up for the programme can get a grant of up to S$15,000 per trainee.
- The SkillsFuture Study Awards will be available from the fourth quarter, where the award recipient will receive S$5000 to help defray the cost of attending work-related training.
- The SkillsFuture Credit provides S$500 to cover fees for a range of work skills-related courses for Singaporeans aged 25 and above.
- The Cadet Allowance Reimbursement programme reimburse companies up to half the monthly allowance for Singaporean cadets who are receiving the certificates of competencies (CoCs) training.
- In addition, the MPA has committed S$4 million over the next three years.
- Monetary awards of up to S$ 2000 and S$ 3,000 to candidates who complete shipboard training junior deck and engineering officers and seafaring officers with the higher-class CoCs of Class 2 and 1 respectively.
- Employers can also tap the Up-skill Allowance Scheme to offer junior seafaring officers a training allowance of S$ 6,000 when they pursue full-time CoC 2/1 programmes.
It is believed that these measures will attract more Singaporeans to take on seafaring as well as shore based jobs.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
