The Government of Singapore has unveiled two initiatives to further strengthen the country’s maritime industry.
The initiatives include the Singapore War Risks Insurance Conditions (SWRIC) and the creation of an interoperability structure for electronic trade documents for the maritime and trade industries.
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Announcing the initiatives, Singapore Transport and Health Senior Minister of State Dr Lam Pin Min said: “The close partnership between the government, the industry and Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) is a unique competitive advantage for Singapore.
“We must continue to strengthen this partnership. This will enable Maritime Singapore to stay relevant and competitive.”
The newly announced SWRIC is an upgrade to the Singapore War Risks Mutual (SWRM), the first national war risks insurance facility of the country, which was launched in 2015 to develop Singapore as a comprehensive marine insurance hub.
SWRM is available to the members of SSA and the non-members whose ships are registered in Singapore. It covers Protection and Indemnity (P&I) war risks, hull war risks, detention and diversion expenses, as well as sue, labour and discretionary insurance.
SWRIC, prepared by a workgroup led by SSA, includes a set of insurance conditions that intend to improve the existing war conditions by eliminating the coverage gaps. It also updates and simplifies current war conditions.
It is primarily designed for shipowners to address the risks that are experienced by the global shipping community.
With the initiative to create an interoperability structure for electronic trade documents for the maritime and trade industries, Singapore aims to further digitalise the maritime sector and provide benefits to the greater supply chain ecosystem.
The initiative is further expected to boost the three-party memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), SSA and Singapore Customs in January last year.
As part of the MoU, the three signatories are working together to look into the digitalisation of trade and maritime documentation such as Bills of Lading (BL).
