Vaccinated travel lane a big boost for businesses

THE Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (SGC) says that its member companies expect a more positive outlook in the next 12 months. According to a flash survey done by it in March this year, 70 per cent of the members expect their sales and revenue to either increase or significantly increase compared to last year.

One very positive development is the new Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Germany and Singapore which allows business meetings to take place face to face. "The VTL arrangement allows greater ease of travel between countries, hence allowing more business meetings to take place. Long awaited and postponed face-to-face meetings can finally take place to discuss strategic topics and think ahead," the chamber tells BT.

"We have conducted flash surveys which indicate the importance of travel between countries, where almost 60 per cent indicated that the border/travel restrictions resulted in lower sales performance, while 57 per cent indicated that they resulted in their employees not being able to properly fulfil their job function. Serving quarantine upon return to Singapore was one of the main factors hindering business travel.

"One hundred per cent of our members say they need to travel, and 89 per cent say they need to travel to Germany, emphasising the significance of this travel lane for businesses. On a personal level, many German families are also looking forward to seeing their family and friends again in person after about two years," it adds.

Says Jens Rübbert, president of the SGC: "German companies in Singapore provide close to 45,000 jobs. Many of our member companies have their regional HQ for Asean/APAC in Singapore. Some even have global board members permanently working from Singapore."

Asked how the German companies in Singapore had done in the past 12 months, the chamber says that the Covid-19 pandemic has created a lot of uncertainty among businesses and consumers.

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To better understand the impact of the pandemic, it conducted regular surveys among its members over the past 1½ years, on topics such as supply chains, business outlook, international travel and HR matters.

The significant changes in supply chains, logistics, HR, regional markets, cybersecurity and economic growth were covered in webinars offered by SGC in response to sharing insights on navigating the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, it provided individual services to support all its clients against the Covid-19 backdrop.

"We also offered our services in digital formats. For example, we hosted nine digital/hybrid business conferences with a total of approximately 650 participants, as well as five digital delegations with more than 200 business matchings and individual services accomplished, promoting business and trade," says the chamber.

"Our most recent delegation on Electronics and Photonics took place in September, with 10 leading German companies connecting with Singaporean companies to find opportunities for collaboration. Such delegations are important in building partnerships between Singapore and Germany, and being able to host them virtually in these difficult times has been extremely valuable."

The chamber says that to adapt to the Covid-19 situation, German companies have, for example, increasingly adopted innovation and digitalisation to minimise disruptions to business operations, as well as to pursue new business opportunities. Overall, German companies and their products have shown a relatively high level of resilience in their industries despite the disruptions during the pandemic, by adapting to remote working and using online meetings to connect virtually, even across the region.

One of the SGC's roles is encouraging Singaporean and German partnerships, and it has been strong in linking Germany-based companies with those based in Singapore. In the past 18 months, for instance, it organised more than 200 business matchings and individual services between companies in Singapore and Germany.

"Moreover, with large symposiums that we organised, companies had the opportunity to connect virtually and generate new business leads. An example of this would be our "Energy Efficiency in Buildings" delegation that took place virtually in May as part of the German Energy Solutions Initiative, where eight German companies pitched their ideas to 90 attendees, who ranged from local businesses to global players and governmental stakeholders," says the chamber.

There are about 2,000 German companies in Singapore - a significant 33 per cent increase over the 1,500 German businesses here in 2016, the chamber tells BT. In 2019, German investments in Singapore amounted to approximately S$21 billion. These are largely companies offering high-tech products and solutions, and who are strong in research and development.

"We have seen many investments, particularly in innovation and advanced manufacturing, in the past few years. For example, in April this year, German mobility technology manufacturer, Continental, launched a S$50 million corporate lab for automotive research at Nanyang Technological University.

"The lab will focus on areas such as smart robotics and navigation technologies, artificial intelligence and software engineering, smart sensors, and touch-responsive interfaces," the chamber says.

Another example is Siemens, a German technology firm, which is a technology partner of Singapore Aquaculture Technologies (SAT) Pte Ltd in their Smart Floating Fish Farm. To further support innovative and sustainable food production, Siemens has invested S$9.2 million in SAT, becoming its first institutional investor, thus helping Singapore to move close to its target of achieving its goal of 30 per cent local food production by 2030.

Serving as the headquarters and innovation hub for the South-east Asia, Australia & New Zealand region, the specialty chemicals company Evonik has invested over S$1.6 billion in Singapore. With a research hub located in Biopolis to drive innovation in this region and beyond, Evonik also has two world-scale production complexes on Jurong Island and two manufacturing facilities in Tuas,

Most recently, safety testing and certification provider TÜV SÜD opened a new regional hub, TÜV SÜD @ IBP, in Jurong East with an investment of S$100 million. This was the company's first significant investment in real estate outside Germany.

The chamber says that there has been a significant increase in German FDI in Singapore over the past years, going up from S$13.9 billion in 2010 to S$21.6 billion in 2019.

"We expect this trend to continue given the positive sentiments of German companies here. In one of our 2021 surveys, 41 per cent of German companies in Singapore stated that they would invest more in Singapore in the years to come. Hence, this suggests that the net investment might continue to increase even if the pandemic prevails."

Germany and Singapore continue to have strong bilateral trade relations. Singapore is Germany's largest export market in Asean, and Germany is Singapore's top economic partner in the European Union. In 2020, Singapore's exports to Germany totalled approximately S$7.5 billion, while Germany's exports to Singapore totalled S$9.7 billion. Key Singapore exports include pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and measuring, checking and medical products, it adds.

Asked about its plans for the next 12 months, the chamber says that it will continue to serve its clients, including both members and non-members, through tailor-made business solutions, and/or webinars and virtual networking options.

"We will continue working closely with our partners, such as the Association of German Chambers of Commerce Abroad (AHK), the German Embassy in Singapore, the Singapore Embassy in Germany, the German European School Singapore, EDB, MTI, ESG, and business associations in Singapore.

"Understanding new trends that come along with the evolving Covid-19 pandemic, as well as innovative trends in the industries, will be one of our main focuses to offer high quality information to our business partners. Important topics for 2022 include sustainability, energy efficiency, Industrie 4.0, and training and education.

"Furthermore, we hope that face-to-face events will resume on a larger scale, such that we may organise physical trade fairs and delegations again," it adds.