The annual Day of the Seafarer is a celebration designated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to recognise the unique contributions made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade, the world economy and civil society. Seafarers will always be the key to moving world trade and not forgetting that their welfare and safety will always be of our concern.

This year’s event was held at the International Seafarers Drop-in Centre in Pasir Panjang Terminal 5 (PPT 5). PPT 5 was selected for the event to be held, not only to celebrate the hard work of our seafarers, but also to celebrate the re-opening of PPT 5 together with the 3rd Year Anniversary of the drop-in centre.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Jurong Port (JP), Mission to Seafarer Singapore (MtSS), PSA International, Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) and Singapore Organisation of Seamen (SOS) were present for the event. MPA also presented a S$150,000 cheque to the Missions for their contribution to crew welfare activities in the Port of Singapore.

The theme for the Day of the Seafarer 2022 is “Your voyage - then and now, share your journey”. With us entering the endemic stage, Singapore has opened up for seafarers to visit and hence it was possible for seafarers to come on shore in the Port of Singapore to receive a small token of appreciation for all their hard work and efforts.

The gift was specially designed to commemorate this day, which includes a customised gym towel to remind them that their hard work will always be recognised. Additionally, in the spirit of this year’s theme, we gifted the seafarers a plain canvas tote bag with writing materials for them to showcase their creativity based on their sailing journey thus far. To make it a bit more interactive, the tote bag design was a competition amongst the seafarers and the best design submitted to MPA will be rewarded.

To kickstart this competition, MPA Chief Executive, Ms Quah Ley Hoon (CE MPA) participated in the creation of her very own design on the tote bag.

The submission of the tote bag design competition closed on 31 August 2022 and the responses were overwhelming! Below are the top 3 designs we would love to share:

Overall, the event was a successful one. We would like to thank MPA, the Unions, PSA International and JP for sponsoring the 10,000 gift hampers to be distributed to the seafarers transiting Singapore for crew change as well as those onboard ships that call at the Port of Singapore.