03 December 2013

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning. It is my pleasure to join you here today for the Singapore Registry of Ships (or SRS) Forum on Responsible Shipping. I would like to extend a warm welcome to all participants. I see many familiar faces who have strongly supported the SRS over the years. Thank you very much for your support.

Over the years, the Singapore Flag has grown from strength to strength to become the preferred choice for many quality ship owners and operators. When I first began my term as Chief Executive of MPA in May 2009, the registry size was about 45 million GT. Over the past four and a half years, the total tonnage of ships under the Singapore flag has grown to more than 70 million GT today, averaging more than 10% in annual growth. We are now the fifth largest ship registry in the world with one of the youngest quality fleets.

The growth of the SRS is also a catalyst for the growth of Singapore as an international maritime centre, with the entrenchment of shipowning activities in Singapore, and the development of the maritime ancillary services sector. All these would not have been possible without the confidence, commitment and support of the shipping community.

Today, we would like to take the opportunity to recognise the Singapore-flagged ships that have helped us cross the 53rd to 70th million GT milestones. We will be presenting the SRS Milestone Gifts to these ship owners later.

The need to strike a balance between the development of the maritime sector and sustainability is one of the many challenges facing the industry today. There is growing need for the maritime industry to operate in a responsible manner. As our Forum today is aptly themed "Responsible Shipping", I am sure we will have much to talk about what "responsible shipping" means to the industry and how each of us, as ship owners, operators and Flag Administration, can play a role in this.

Singapore recognises the need for safe, secure and efficient shipping in clean oceans and is party to all major International Maritime Organization (or IMO) Conventions on ship safety and marine pollution prevention. In order to effectively implement these international requirements, these Conventions have been enacted in our legislation. We also participate actively in IMO discussions to share our perspective as a flag State, port State as well as a coastal State and last Friday at the IMO Assembly, Singapore was successfully re-elected to the IMO Council.

As a major flag registry, we continually work to maintain our standards as a quality flag and I am glad to note that the Singapore Flag has done consistently well in Port State Control regimes worldwide. Our Flag State Control Department will be sharing more about the Singapore Flag's performance later.

Apart from meeting international standards, we encourage responsible ship owners and operators to go beyond the mandated requirements in promoting the sustainability of the maritime transport system. Since the inception of the Maritime Singapore Green Initiative in 2011, there has been much interest and active participation from ship owners and operators. We will be giving an update on the Green Technology Programme later.

Later, we will also be presenting the Green Ship certificates to the Singapore-flagged ships that have qualified for the Green Ship Programme. There are now some 90 ships under the Green Ship Programme and we can expect more new ships with green features joining the Singapore Flag. I am also heartened to see the encouraging response from maritime companies coming forward to sign the Maritime Singapore Green Pledge. 20 more organisations will be signing the Green Pledge at our fourth signing ceremony today, joining the 40 that previously signed the pledge in demonstrating their commitment towards clean and green shipping.

The success of the Singapore Flag is the result of the strong support from our quality ship owners and operators. We are happy to have APL to share with us later on the various initiatives that the company has undertaken to develop a clean and green fleet. APL is one of the major supporters of the Green Ship Programme, with a total of 20 Green Ships, one of which, APL YANGSHAN, was also awarded the SRS Green Ship of the Year in April this year.

We are also happy to have BW Maritime to share with us later on its experience with the installation of ballast water management systems onboard its ships, and DNV to share on the future clean fuel landscape.

Before I conclude, I would like to reiterate MPA's commitment to working in partnership with our ship owners and operators, and the wider maritime industry to facilitate the growth of your business and fleets here in Singapore. As part of this commitment, I am pleased to share two new initiatives that we will be rolling out next year.

The first is the Annual Administrative Fee scheme for Singapore-flagged ships. Like other ship registries, the SRS levies certain fees for transactions and services rendered. These are usually relatively small in dollar amounts per transaction but there could be many transactions a year, involving quite a bit of administrative work for companies handling invoices and making payments. To enhance convenience, the Annual Administrative Fee scheme will offer ship owners and operators the added option of choosing to pay an annual flat fee of S$600 per ship instead of paying on a per transaction basis. The annual administrative fee will cover registration and crewing-related services and transactions provided by the SRS. With an annual fee of S$600, the majority of ship owners and operators will pay less under the Annual Administrative Fee scheme compared to paying on a per transaction basis. So do consider signing up for the Annual Administrative Fee scheme - it will be more convenient and you can save some money too!

The second initiative is about communication. As an additional channel of communication with ship owners and operators, MPA will be starting a quarterly SRS e-bulletin starting from next year. Through this e-bulletin, we will share information and updates that are of interest to our ship owners and operators. I hope that you will find the SRS e-bulletin interesting and informative.

We hope that you will find the two new initiatives useful. Do continue to give us your feedback so that we can continue to improve and do even better as your partner in growing your business here in Singapore.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for taking time to join us here today and I wish all of you a meaningful and fruitful session. Thank you.