SMOU to contribute S$1.2m towards cadet training

THE Singapore Maritime Officers' Union (SMOU) will contribute S$1.2 million to help shipping companies defray the cost of providing training berths for Singaporean seafaring cadets taking part in the Tripartite Nautical Training Award and Tripartite Engineering Training Award Programmes (TNTA & TETA).

Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills), Ong Ye Kung announced the S$1.2 million contribution from SMOU at an event hosted by the maritime union on Thursday.

The S$1.2 million will be allocated over two years to the local shipping companies that have collective agreements with SMOU.

Each shipping company can receive a S$5,000 contribution to offset the cost of having to provide training berths to every TNTA or TETA cadet it takes on.

Up to 240 cadets are expected to benefit from the S$1.2 million SMOU contribution.

TNTA and TETA are tripartite initiatives that started in 2010 and 2016, respectively, to train Singaporeans who want to take on a career change to become Nautical Officers or Marine Engineers working on-board commercial ships.

SMOU said its latest S$1.2 million contribution to the training programmes will go to supporting the development of Singaporean core in the maritime sector so as to have a bigger pool of qualified maritime talents even under the current economic conditions.

The funding support for TNTA and TETA in the form of course fees and training allowances were heavily co-subsidised by then Singapore Workforce Development Agency and Employment and Employability Institute, whilst SMOU and the cadet co-pay part of the course fees. Moving forward, SkillsFuture Singapore, together with SMOU, will continue to support skills development and skills deepening of the Maritime workforce.