OPENING ADDRESS BY MS MARY LIEW GENERAL SECRETARY, SINGAPORE MARITIME OFFICERS’ UNION OFFICIAL OPENING OF WAVELINK MARITIME SIMULATION CENTRE DEVAN NAIR INSTITUTE, HALL 2, 3 & 4 9 MAY 2014
Good afternoon
Our Guest-of-Honour, Minister in Prime Minister’s Office; Secretary-General, NTUC, Mr Lim Swee Say Chief Executive, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Mr Andrew Tan President, Singapore Shipping Association, Mr Patrick Phoon Chairman, Singapore Maritime Employers’ Federation, Captain Francis Joseph General Secretary of ITUC Asia-Pacific, Mr Noriyuki Suzuki Tripartite Partners and friends from the Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Transport, the MPA and the shipping community, NTUC Central Committee Members Sisters and Brothers in the Labour Movement and Co-operatives; Our Distinguished guests from China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines and Taiwan SMOU Executive Committee, members Ladies and Gentlemen
After watching the in house video brought to us by our Young SMOU, we now have a better picture of what our cadets have gone through. It was a very stringent process and blistering journey to make it into this TNTA programme. In fact WMI Executive Director, Captain Ken Yeow has assured me that our selection process is among the strictest in the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are very honoured by your presence this afternoon to witness the official opening of the Wavelink Maritime Simulation Centre as well as the investiture of the Tripartite Nautical Training Award (TNTA) Programme cadets from Cohort 7. These cadets have just begun their 6 months pre-sea training this week.
Thank you for being here to witness such a significant moment in the history of SMOU and Wavelink.
Passion Drives Us Forward
SMOU’s training and education arm, Wavelink Maritime Institute (WMI) and together with our valuable shipping partners have birthed various training initiatives over the years. For example, WMI’s overseas training programmes such as CadetsPlus, OfficersPlus are held in 16 cities across 5 countries.
Wavelink Maritime Simulation Centre
When our Emeritus General Secretary, Brother Thomas Tay and I first explored and discussed the possibility of having our own Simulation Centre with our Board of Director, Mr Lim Tau Kok and WMI Executive Director, Captain Ken Yeow. We all recognised the need to train our members to be better officers, productive and value add to our Shipping companies however, there were many concerns.
We then discussed with our Exco who unanimously forged on to present our case to the General Council in November 2013. Our General Council gave their support and approved the budget and here we are today.
We are very grateful for our Exco, General Council and Wavelink Board of Directors’ support for sharing in our vision, especially Captain Ken Yeow and his team who have worked tirelessly to set up this Simulation Centre. And not forgetting Transas, the simulator provider for working hard at putting up the system. I would like to invite Captain Yeow and his team to stand and please join me in a round of applause to appreciate their commitment and hard work.
Indeed this is a milestone in SMOU’s 63 years of history as well as WMI as the Wavelink Maritime Simulation Centre will set new industry standards. Not only will the Simulation Centre serve the shipping companies with whom we have Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) with, but it is also part of the collective effort to develop the Singaporean core in the maritime industry.
I encourage shipping companies to make full use of the simulators to train as well as upgrade their officers so that they can have better pay and a better life for themselves and their family.
Doing Our Part in Encouraging Singaporeans to Return to Sea
Today, as we witness the investiture of TNTA Cohort 7 cadets who are embarking on their new voyage, we want to do our part for the Singaporeans seafarers who have obtained their CoC3 or CoC5, finished their National Service but may feel not that comfortable to start sailing yet, can utilise our simulators to have that applied learning advantage.
I’m proud to announce that we will be sponsoring the first 20 Singaporean Deck Officers or Engineers for a free 5-day simulator course worth $40,000 from 26 to 30th of this month. Shipping companies can have some cost savings and the seafarer will be able to feel more confident in their skills, making it a win-win situation for all.
The course fees will also be partially covered by Singapore Maritime Training Fund. And we hope that we’ll be able to sponsor more Singaporeans to upgrade their skills via WMI’s Centre of Excellence for Applied learning. We look forward to better and stronger support from our valuable tripartite partners in our collective efforts to promote the Singapore core.
TNTA Cohort 7 Investiture
To you, our TNTA cadets from Cohort 7 who are here today. You are among the 29 specially selected from some 400 candidates. You are our first beneficiaries of this new and exciting simulation centre. This facility was put together to share with you the entire experience of a life at sea as seagoing officers and we hope that you will cherish and benefit greatly from this experience.
My congratulations to all of you on pursuing your passions of becoming a seagoing officer, travel the seven seas even when the going gets tough, stay positive, preserve on and don’t stop learning. The time will come where you will command good wages with a good career progression.
I look forward to the day where I can address all of you as Captain and Chief!
Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me to thank our Guest of Honour, Mr Lim Swee Say for doing us the honour on this proud day for SMOU, Wavelink and our young cadets who will form part of our Singapore core. And to all of you our special guests for your memorable presence here this afternoon. Last but not least to our Exco, Staff and Organising Committee, thank you for all your hard work.
Thank you. |
