Welcoming the new Director of Marine

The Shipping Division in MPA welcomed Capt Daknash as the new appointed director on 1 April 2017. Friends of MPA will not find his name unfamiliar and many may even have worked with him before. Prior to his current appointment, Capt Daknash was the Director (Operations) of MPA and concurrently held the statutory position of Port Master. As Director (Operations), he was responsible for overseeing the day to day running of the port to ensure safety of navigation and prevention of pollution in Singapore Port Waters. Concurrently, he held the statutory position of Port Master to fulfil the statutory powers accorded to him under the various Act of Parliament and subsidiary legislations administered by the Maritime and Port Authority. Dear friends of SRS, It gives me great pleasure to launch the latest edition of the SRS e-Bulletin with a brand-new "look and feel". The SRS e-Bulletin has been a platform for the SRS to share news and summarise on key developments of international regulations. We hope that the new layout will continue to achieve this and allow us to communicate effectively to our stakeholders. As the SRS crosses the 50 years mark, I look forward to busy and exciting times ahead as I take on the role as the Director of Marine. In terms of services, we aim to continue working with our customers to reduce administrative burden and improve service quality. For instance, in July this year, we had introduced the enhanced Annual Administrative Fee (AAF) Scheme. The new enhancement now includes more services under the existing AAF Scheme, allowing shipowners to enjoy these additional services at no additional cost. On the technology front, we have started the initiative of moving towards e-certification to reduce the reliance on traditional paper certificates. I'm also pleased to announce that the Singapore flag has performed well under Port State Control (PSC) in both the Tokyo and Paris MoU regimes, and has again qualified for the United State Coast Guard (USCG) QUALSHIP 21 programme (Quality Shipping for the 21st Century). This would not be possible without the commitment and effort from our stakeholders to operate and maintain Singapore ships at the highest standards. Moving forward, we are committed to continue looking for ways to improve efficiency and bring value to our SRS customers. With emerging technologies, we aim to embark on an even greater push towards digitalisation by harnessing new technologies to streamline our business processes and tackle some of the challenges faced by the industry today. We also hope to forge new partnerships with our stakeholders and build a productive and intelligent maritime ecosystem. As our maritime ecosystem is ultimately held together by the people who power the business, in terms of building local capabilities, we will continue to work with our tripartite partners in attracting and grooming a pipeline of local seafarers. I ask for and look forward to your continual support as we work together to realise this vision to keep the Singapore flag flying high.

Capt Daknash Ganasen