The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is introducing service enhancements from November 2017 for the benefit of over 4,600 ships flying the Singapore flag.
This was announced by Andrew Tan, chief executive of MPA, at the Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) Forum recently.
Themed “Innovation in Challenging Times,” this year’s SRS Forum focuses on how companies could leverage on innovative practices such as blockchain and e-certification to improve work processes.
Tan said, “IoT, digitalization and new technologies such as blockchain and smart drones are changing the way we work. To stay ahead, the Singapore Registry of Ships needs to embrace these technologies to offer value-added services to its customer.”
Service enhancements include a new 24/7 hotline for urgent assistance. Effective November 1, 2017, Singapore-registered ships will be able to call MPA’s new 24/7 customer service hotline for urgent cases relating to crewing, registry, and technical matters.
MPA is also supporting the digitization of Singapore-registered ships. Currently, MPA authorizes recognized organizations (ROs) to issue electronic certificates (E-Certs) to Singapore-registered ships. By end of this year, in addition to E-Certs issued by ROs, MPA will also issue e-certificates directly to Singapore-registered ships.
“The use of E-Certs will save time and costs. It reduces the need for hard copies, allows for instantaneous and simultaneous transmissions of documents as well as reduces the risk of fraud,” said MPA in a release.
Singapore will be among the first flag administrations in Asia to issue E-Certs, said MPA. Before E-Certs, hard copies of over two dozen certificates, such as certificate of registry, safe manning certificate, and load line certificates, among others, were kept on board ships as proof that the vessels complied with various applicable regulations or conventions.
“Converting the hardcopy certificates to E-Certs reduces the manpower and financial commitments in the preparation, printing and delivery of these certificates,” said MPA.
In addition, MPA has also expanded the Marinet to include two new online services—application for ship registration and appointment of manager form as well as application for various documents issued by SRS. The expansion will provide timely issuance of certificate/declaration to the vessel.
The agency will also be leveraging on new technologies to conduct ship survey.
Explained MPA: “Increasingly, new technologies such as aerial drones armed with cameras and ship inspecting robots are being used for ship surveys. Such methods of remote inspection are safer and can save time and cost for ship owners as they eliminate the need for traditional method of survey such as erecting staging in the cargo tanks. Marine surveyors also do not have to risk their lives by having to climb high places or be exposed to adverse conditions to check for defects.”
Following several trials using drones to survey cargo tanks of ships, MPA is developing the acceptance criteria for the usage of such remote inspection techniques on board Singapore-registered ships. The acceptance criteria will be ready by first quarter next year, said the agency.
Photo: DearEdward
