REALISING that it's no longer enough to be just the world's busiest port, Singapore is gearing to be the regional hub for maritime research and development, finance, risk management and law.
'While the port is important, other countries are also developing their capabilities. Also new technology will allow some vessels to bypass Singapore,' said Jude Benny, managing partner of Joseph Tan Jude Benny.
There are many reasons why shipping and offshore companies establish a presence in Singapore, or take advantage of the Maritime and Port Authority's (MPA) various incentive schemes for alternative financing or raising capital.
Chief among these is the support received from the government. International shipowning and ship-operating companies and ship agencies, ship management, international freight forwarders and international logistics operators are given various tax breaks under the Approved International Shipping Enterprise Scheme and Approved Shipping and Logistics Scheme respectively.
'The shift to Asia, with 50 per cent of tonnage owned by Asia, presents a perfect opportunity to offer Singapore as a location for owners to operate from,' noted Mr Benny. 'To make it attractive to them we need to give them the related services, so that they need not have to go back to Europe in search of these,' he said.
These include an educated workforce, financial markets, infrastructure and other facilities. Singapore has all these factors and is also putting in serious efforts with the help of the government to develop them even further. The $80 million Maritime Cluster Fund is the broad umbrella under which all these incentives and development efforts fall. They seek to enhance maritime manpower development as well as to develop local training infrastructure and capabilities.
'All these make Singapore a suitable hub for operations. This, in turn, creates a melting pot of operators, ie a very attractive hive for ancillary service providers. So, both groups feed off each other,' said Mr Benny.
To achieve this, 'all the major service providers must be brought in', he added. For example, the top five or 10 players in ship finance, brokering, legal, insurance and various other ancillary services. 'I don't believe we can displace London - it has too much history and tradition, but we can be, geographically, the Asian self-contained alternative to London,' said Mr Benny.
This article was first published in The Business Times on October 16, 2008.
