The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has launched an international safety initiative with the aim of bringing down the level of marine casualties in Singapore’s waters. The MPA timed its announcement to coincide with Safety@Sea Week 2016, which runs in Singapore until September 2.
In his opening address Minister Khaw said that maritime safety in the Singapore Strait had improved since the first Safety@Sea Week in 2014, “we have to continue to spare no effort to improve safety at sea”. Singapore plans a series of biennial working group meetings in which governmental and NGO bodies such as the IMO, the MPA and the class societies can share knowledge.
MPA chief executive Andrew Tan said: “By building a community of good practice, we hope to disseminate best practices and foster closer cooperation between maritime authorities to prevent and respond to these incidents when they occur by adopting an integrated and multi-stakeholder approach.”
MPA also announced the release of two videos and an interactive computer-based module, which give navigators an introduction to the Singapore strait. It was produced by the maritime authorities of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore with additional contributions from BIMCO, International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and National Maritime Safety at Sea Council of Singapore (NMSSC).