MPA announces startup grant, digitalisation initiatives for maritime sector

THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has rolled out a new grant scheme for maritime technology startups in Singapore to develop scalable solutions.

The authority will also push for wider industry adoption of digitalisation initiatives such as electronic bills of lading and electronic bunker delivery note to drive productivity for the sector.

These were announced at the Singapore Maritime Technology Conference on Tuesday by Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs Chee Hong Tat.

The S$10 million grant for startups will come from the S$100 million Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund. Those who have completed the relevant maritime acceleration programmes in Singapore can apply for a grant of up to S$50,000 to pilot their projects, while startups looking to scale up their offerings or projects can also apply for a project grant of up to S$100,000.

Under the effort, a digital technology marketplace and a startup playbook will be developed. The marketplace will connect maritime and venture capital companies with startups and facilitate discovery of solutions. The startup playbook serves as a comprehensive guide for startups to springboard into Singapore, tapping schemes and support programmes relating to talent, capital and research and development resources.

The MPA has also launched a digitalisation plan for the bunkering sector to facilitate business-to-government and business-to-business bunkering reporting processes.

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It includes the development of digitalBunker@SG, a secure system for bunker companies to automate data submission for regulatory reporting purposes. When implemented, the system is expected to save an estimated 1,400 man-days annually for the sector.

A call-for-proposal has been made to partner the industry in projects to digitalise the bunker purchase and delivery process as well as documentation such as bunker delivery note.

An end-to-end and highly digitalised workflow across multiple stakeholders including customers and financial institutions will improve efficiency and transparency of the bunkering supply chain, the MPA said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Further, the authority announced the completion of an electronic bill of lading trial which demonstrated the interoperability between different digital trade platforms. In January 2021, Singapore and the Netherlands completed a shipment where an electronic bill of lading "shadowed" a live shipment from Qui Nhon, Vietnam to Rotterdam, the Netherlands via transshipment in Singapore.

The trial showed that there were significant time savings in electronic bills of lading - from an average of six to 10 days, to less than 24 hours. It also marks one of the first title transfers across different digital platforms, which was facilitated by an open-standard digital utility to enable interoperability.

To catalyse adoption of electronic bills of lading, the MPA is issuing a call-for-proposal to develop and pilot solutions that are based on open standards and meet the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records framework.

Also, the Digital Container Shipping Association has joined the digitalOCEANS, an initiative for shaping and harmonising global data standards for maritime digitalisation. The association, representing nine of the top container liners in the world and accounting for about 70 per cent of the global container trade, will contribute cargo and vessel operational data standards, offering a boost in the interoperability of digital maritime platforms.