In mid-July, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) for companies to submit proposals to design and promote the adoption of full-electric harbor craft (e-HC) in Singapore. The EOI was issued in the wake of the Committee of Supply debate held in February this year, where the Singapore Ministry of Transport announced that the harbor craft, pleasure craft and tug boat sectors would be required to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in line with Singapore’s national net zero ambitions. To support this goal, the MPA would require all new harbor craft operating in the Port of Singapore to be fully electric, be capable of using B100 biofuel, or be compatible with net zero fuels such as hydrogen.
To support harbor craft companies adopt e-HC, MPA plans to provide these companies with engineering reference designs and safety standards to adopt, as well as access more attractive financing solutions and lower the cost of production through aggregating overall demand for e-HC. The EOI will also allow MPA to assess and validate proposals for the best-in-class e-HC reference designs that are optimized for efficiency, integrated battery management and energy storage systems, as well as essential safety systems.
Additionally, EOI will also invite proposals to demonstrate the commercial viability of various business models based on an aggregated harbor craft fleet to meet the demand at the Port of Singapore. There are currently about 1600 harbor craft performing a range of marine services within the Port of Singapore, including the delivery of ship supplies and bunker, as well as towage and launch services. The suitability of electrification as a decarbonization pathway depends on several factors, including the operating profile and energy requirements of the harbor craft.
(Source: MPA)
