Mr Jeffrey Hing, Chairman, Penguin Shipyard International; 

 

Mr Ong Li Koon, Director Naval Systems, DSTA; 

 

MPA Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, 

 

1.      Good afternoon. I hope everyone had a fruitful Singapore Maritime Week. Welcome to the Commissioning Ceremony of MPA’s new Patrol Craft Enhanced (PCE); it is nice to be out in the sun after a whole week indoors. 

 

Increased demands for the port 

 

2.      Despite COVID-19, the Port of Singapore has remained busy. Our container throughput reached a record-high of 37.5 million TEUs in 2021. Our vessel arrival tonnage was actually higher during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, than in the two years before COVID. As our Next Generation Port at Tuas progressively begins operations, more vessels will call at our ports, and demand for marine services in our anchorage will grow. 

 

3.      With more activities in our port, there will be new operational challenges. MPA will need to work doubly hard, to make sure that our port remains safe, clean and efficient.

 

4.      We will do so by leveraging technology. To enhance our operational efficiency, our enforcement teams will use data-driven insights to improve enforcement capabilities and incident response. Deploying innovative solutions, such as aerial drones, will also improve our surveillance capabilities. 

 

5.      In parallel, our patrol crafts will require higher endurance and better seakeeping abilities for operations in all weather conditions. They also need to be bigger, to accommodate more sensors and equipment.

 

Current Patrol fleet 

 

6.      Given these requirements, MPA completed the first stage of our patrol craft fleet refresh in 2020, by launching six next-generation patrol crafts, or NGPCs for short. By replacing aging vessels, these NGPCs improved our ability to ensure navigational safety and protect our marine environment. Moving forward, they will continue to respond to marine casualty incidents, as well as conduct patrol functions and regular enforcement checks. 

 

Construction & Features of PCE 

 

7.      To further improve our asset capabilities, MPA commissioned the construction of PCE in 2020 – the second stage of our fleet refresh. This was done in collaboration with Penguin Shipyard International and the Defence Science Technology Agency (DSTA). Over 160 manhours of discussions and workshops were carried out to gather user’s inputs operational and emergency requirements. 

 

8.      Measuring 34 metres, the PCE can conduct specialised operations and caters to the rigorous demands at sea. It is equipped with a comprehensive suite of assets, such as daughter craft, unmanned drones, industrial gas detectors and equipment to contain oil spills. She will also be used as test bed for new technologies and equipment. The PCE is also built with higher endurance capable to sustain longer operation at sea and carry out ferry evacuation operation. 

 

9.      Very importantly, the PCE is a hybrid diesel-electric vessel. As we work towards a sustainable Maritime Singapore, reducing emissions from the domestic harbour craft fleet is one focus area. MPA expects electric propulsion to be one of the key decarbonisation solutions in the long term,  and will support the progressive installation of charging and battery infrastructure from 2025. As such, we made sure that the PCE would be ready for a greener future. 

 

10.     The PCE will supplement the existing fleet of six NGPCs. The PCE can be deployed for command-and-control during operations such as search and rescue, salvage, ferry incidents, and oil spill response. Apart from routine 24/7 patrols within the port, the PCE can withstand offshore conditions, to respond to marine incidents outside the port if required.

 

11     The PCE will be named “MPA Guardian”, a name chosen through polling by MPA staff. This name reflects to the craft’s purpose, of supporting maritime stakeholders when incidents occur both in and outside our port. 

 

Conclusion

 

12.     MPA Guardian is a physical demonstration of innovative and green solutions, that will shape the future of Maritime Singapore. It also reiterates MPA’s commitment to supporting our maritime industry and port users to the fullest extent possible. 

 

13.     With this, I proudly commission MPA Guardian into service, and hereby welcomes her to the MPA Patrol Craft fleet. 

 

14.     Thank you.