Singapore hosts seafarers at Maritime Day; MPA provides wide support

THE Maritime Port Authority of Singapore has announced that 600 hampers will be given out to ships calling at the Port of Singapore to show appreciation for seafarer's "tireless contribution to the maritime industry".

MPA chairman Lucien Wong, speaking at the World Maritime Day Hamper presentation ceremony at the PSA Building, said that Singapore' s MPA offers seafarers schemes that cover educational grants, long service retirement awards and compassionate financial assistance.

Funds such as the Special Relief Fund for Seafarers and Singapore Stranded Seamen Fund were set up to provide immediate financial assistance to the dependants of Singaporean seafarers who are missing at sea and to ensure that crew welfare onboard are taken care of by their employers. It also set up the SAIL Scholarship and the Tripartite Maritime Scholarship schemes in 2002 and 2005, and awarded 110 scholarships to seafarers under these schemes.

In addition, MPA, together with the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and e2i (also known as the Employment and Employability Institute), recently announced that they will commit more than SG$7 million (US$5.7 million) over two years in two new initiatives to attract Singaporeans to join the harbour craft sector. Singapore has also ratified the Maritime Labour Convention (or MLC) 2006, which was adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to safeguard the well-being and working conditions of seafarers.

Singapore's Maritime Week will also feature a popular activity among seafarers, the International Sportsweek, which attracted 1,000 participating seafarers from different vessels and organisations.

The International Maritime Organisation chose the theme "IMO: One hundred years after the Titanic" to commemorate this year's World Maritime Day. One of the consequences of the Titanic disaster in 1912 was the adoption of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

The event is co-sponsored by the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union (SMOU) and the Singapore Organisation of Seamen (SOS).