It's time to pick up the pieces and rebuild Singapore's O&M sector

A MULTI-YEAR downturn has taken a toll on job numbers in Singapore's offshore and marine (O&M) sector.

With foreign workers and seafarers making up the bulk of headcounts on hire, tracking down the overall job losses in the sector is virtually impossible. As far as the headline numbers go, it is safe to assume that at least tens of thousands of jobs had been lost. The estimate is based partly on the figures disclosed by the two largest employers in the sector here, Keppel Corporation and Sembcorp Marine.

Keppel O&M's global headcount stood at about 16,000 compared to over 36,000 at the start of 2015, the group's third-quarter results statement showed. Sembmarine had trimmed about 9,000 jobs in total since 2015, including employees and subcontractors, the yard group said at its Q1 results briefing without giving a breakdown for its Singapore numbers.