The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has received 12 financing and seven insurance proposals in response to the Expression of Interest (EOI) launched to support early adopters of electric harbour craft (e-HC).
MPA has shortlisted EOI proposals from DBS Bank Ltd, United Overseas Bank Limited, BNP Paribas Singapore Branch, KfW IPEX-Bank Asia Ltd, and Société Générale, to offer direct debt financing options for harbour craft owners. MPA will work with these banks to further develop their solutions.
The response to the EOI has also affirmed the strong interest from FIs and financial intermediaries in offering alternative financing solutions beyond debt financing to support the sector’s transition to e-HC. Eight consortia submitted alternative financing proposals. In the next phase of the EOI process, MPA will issue a closed call for proposals to further select the alternative financing proposal(s) for implementation. MPA will provide more details on the next steps in 2nd quarter of 2024.
The seven insurance related submissions indicated that the proposed insurance premiums for e-HC are comparable to that of conventional harbour craft. These proposals were submitted by Income Insurance Limited, QBE Insurance (Singapore) Pte Ltd, The Shipowners’ Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association (Luxembourg) Singapore Branch, NorthStandard Limited, Tigermar Global Pte Ltd, Cambiaso Risso Asia Pte Ltd, and Lockton Companies (Singapore) Pte Ltd. EOI participants raised the areas of information sharing and access to relevant technical and operational information, loss prevention programmes and quality assurance, as supportive mechanisms needed to help right-price insurance premiums for e-HC. MPA will consult the industry on these supportive mechanisms, which could include setting up of a data repository platform, development of training programmes to promote safety awareness and best practices for e-HC operations, as well as establishing quality assurance framework(s) and mechanisms to ensure repair and maintenance services standards for e-HC.
In January 2024, MPA announced three vessel charging concepts to be piloted in Singapore following the call for proposal to develop, operate, and maintain e-HC charging points in Singapore. The proposal by Pyxis and SP Mobility based on Direct Current (DC) charging has been deployed at Marina South Pier in April 2024. In addition, MPA has also assessed potential in the innovative mobile charging concept proposed by Seatrium O&G (International) Pte Ltd, and a high power (350-450kW) DC Charger proposed by Yinson Electric Pte Ltd. MPA will continue working with the two companies to further develop their proposals for future applications in Singapore through R&D collaboration.
MPA has recently shortlisted a total of 11 passenger launch and cargo lighter vessel designs following an EOI4 launched on e-HC design proposals. MPA is working with researchers to enhance the various vessel designs and reduce their energy requirements. When ready, the reference designs can be progressively marketed, and production orders aggregated from the industry. This is expected to reap overall cost savings for companies making a transition to e-HC.
From 2030, all new harbour craft operating in the Port of Singapore will have to be fully electric, be capable of using B100 biofuel, or be compatible with net zero fuels such as hydrogen. For biofuels, blends of up to B50 are already commercially available. MPA is working with industry to develop the standards for up to B100.
To remind, in February the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received 55 proposals from global and local companies in response to its Expression of Interest (EOI) for the development of fully electric harbour craft (e-HC).
