The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) have awarded funding to three consortiums led by Keppel FELS Limited, SeaTech Solutions and Sembcorp Marine, and comprising a total of 30 enterprises and research institutions, to research, design, build and operate a fully electric harbourcraft over the next five years, according to MPA's release. These electrification pilot projects will demonstrate both commercial and technical viability of specific use cases for full electric harbourcraft and will support Singapore’s broader plans to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the maritime transport sector.
Singapore has 1,600 licensed diesel powered harbourcraft that provide services such as the transport of personnel and supplies, to ships calling at the port. The funding for these projects will enable various technologies and charging infrastructures to be studied, test-bedded and deployed across different types of harbourcraft and operating profiles, through use cases proposed by the consortiums. The use cases involve two passenger ferries of different capacities and a lighter craft. By bringing together industry and academia, innovative and commercially viable solutions can be developed to support the deployment of electric harbourcraft in Singapore. Beyond the technologies and solutions, new business models will also be developed by the consortiums to enable wider adoption of electric harbourcraft.
MPA and SMI had launched the joint call for proposals on the electrification of harbourcraft in September 2020 after a series of workshops with the industry. The call for proposals drew strong interest from the maritime community with 73 maritime companies and 10 institutes of higher learning and research institutes submitting a total of 16 proposals. These proposals were evaluated based on their potential technical, operational and commercial viability, as well as strength of local capability development. The three selected proposals, adopting either new build or retrofit strategies, will tap on MPA’s Maritime GreenFuture Fund for the research, testing and piloting of low-carbon technologies.