The 17th Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) 2023 kicked off this week with the theme ‘Ambition Meets Action’, bringing together the global maritime community to take collective and accelerated action to digitalise and decarbonise the shipping industry.

SMW 2023 — taking place from April 24-28 — will be one of the largest editions ever, with close to 50 events taking place within the week.

It was organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in collaboration with industry stakeholders and the research community gathering some 20,000 maritime professionals.

During the opening ceremony, S Iswaran, Singapore's Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations emphasised three areas of ambition for continued growth and success in the maritime industry including ensuring steady progress for maritime decarbonisation, aligning international standards in the move towards greater digitalisation, and redoubling efforts to attract and nurture talent.

"The journey ahead for the maritime sector is not without its uncertainties and challenges, but it also holds the promise of new and interesting opportunities. Our collective mission must be to work together, navigate our path through choppy waters, and stay the course," the Singapore Minister for Transport, said.

 Source: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore 

IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim delivered the keynote address at the opening ceremony and noted that IMO Member States are currently actively engaged in upgrading IMO's Strategy for the reduction of GHG emissions from international shipping by July this year.

He added that collaboration, information-sharing, and capacity-building were key to ensuring that no one is left behind in the push for decarbonisation.

Lim also stressed that the IMO Member States must be ambitious and bold enough to elevate the vision and levels of ambition to accelerate the decarbonisation of shipping.

In a statement circulated by the MPA, it noted collective action and international partnerships to achieve such ambitions in the maritime industry.

During the event, Iswaran announced that Singapore will pledge a new enhanced technical cooperation and training package of US$5 million for the 2024 to 2028 period comprising fellowships, scholarships, workshops, and courses for IMO and its Member States, with the initial US$2 million committed for 2024 and 2025 — to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the IMO Convention and 25th anniversary of the IMO-Singapore Memorandum of Understanding on the Third Country Training Programme.

In conjunction with SMW 2023, MPA is also jointly organising a workshop on e-Navigation (ENAV) and vessel traffic service (VTS) with the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) from April 25-27 designed for maritime and port administrators who oversee VTS and/or ENAV in their countries.

MPA said the line-up of conferences, meetings and dialogues at SMW 2023 is organised around four pillars: decarbonisation, innovation, talent, and services.