Labour Crunch in Maritime Industry

Er Dr Lee Bee Wah asked the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the status of the labour shortage in the maritime industry; (b) how has the labour crunch affected the industry; and (c) whether the Ministry will adjust the current foreign worker quota to help ease the situation.

Mr Lim Swee Say: The port is an important pillar of Singapore’s economy providing critical connectivity to global markets. To strengthen Singapore’s status as a leading transhipment hub, an adequate pool of skilled manpower is essential to support port operations round the clock.

Overall, while manpower is tight, for certain jobs that are physically taxing or require sea-going expertise, such as stevedores or harbourcraft crew, foreign workers complement the local workforce due to a shortage of Singaporeans willing to do the work. Nonetheless, most companies are well within their Dependency Ratio Ceiling (DRC) for the employment of foreign workers.

As part of developing the Sectorial Manpower Plan (SMP), the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) is also working with industry partners and the unions to help more Singaporeans take up sea-faring as well as shore-based careers in the maritime sector. These efforts include putting in place programmes to train more Singaporean seafarers and developing career ladders for various professions in the sector.

MPA is also promoting the use of technologies and automation at our port to reduce reliance on manual labour. For instance, MPA is working with PSA to pilot the use of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). As port operations expand, the use of AGVs will reduce the need for more foreign port workers.

With the implementation of productive technologies and efforts to address the manpower shortage for specific jobs at the port, we do not see a need to adjust the foreign worker quota for this industry at this point of time. We should instead press on with our efforts to drive productivity improvement and accelerate the shift towards a more manpower-lean mode of port operations.