The Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) has crossed the 95 million gross tonnage milestone in 2019 and maintained its position among the top registries in the world. The milestone was announced during the ‘2020 & Beyond’, the SRS Forum held by Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on November 8.
Commenting on this development, Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of MPA Singapore, expressed gratitude for the support Singapore has received. He also recognised the shipping companies that helped the country cross the 92nd to 95th million GT milestones.
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During the “2020 & Beyond” conference, MPA Singapore announced its future initiatives concerning the IMO 2020 transition, and its further steps to help shipowners and maritime stakeholders towards sustainability, digitalization and develop skilled maritime professionals.
What is more, Quah Ley Hoon stated that beyond meeting the 2020 sulphur limit, the aim is to fully embrace sustainability and prepare for a lower-carbon future.
She highlighted that
LNG is a cleaner and greener fuel than existing available options and is the only viable solution at scale for the shipping industry for now.
Notably, in order to help in the adoption of LNG, the Maritime Singapore Green Initiative (MSGI), in place since 2011, is being strengthened with a new incentive. In fact she added that ‘we will give it a new focus on decarbonisation.‘ For example, we hope that the Green Awareness Programme will encourage you to start exploring carbon reporting and internal carbon pricing.
Furthermore, it was suggested that Singapore is LNG bunkering ready. “Our two LNG bunker supplier licenses, FueLNG and Pavilion, have performed more than 150 truck-to-ship LNG bunkering operations. Singapore also performed the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering of Sleipnir at Sembcorp Marine earlier this July,” she added. MPA expects its two LNG bunker tankers to facilitate ship-to-ship LNG bunkering for ocean going vessels from the second half of next year onwards.
She added that “we will continue to work with partners to develop our ecosystem and infrastructure to position ourselves as a key LNG bunkering hub for the region and the world,” as more LNG vessels are expected to call on the port.
