ANCHORED IN SINGAPORE HISTORY

CONFRONTING THE ISSUES

Manpower and mechanisation are the prime concerns now facing the marine industry. The
issues are familiar as the two "Ms", and the inter-related problems of training, foreign worker
employment and safety, have occupied the minds of the marine fraternity with varying
degrees of intensity for the last two decades.

But these were often sidelined in the past as shipyards attended to more pressing commercial
matters. With a healthy forecast, however, industry members are now facing up to these
challenges. Individually, shipyards have begun to tackle the problem by introducing more
mechanised methods where possible. But in the new spirit of cooperation, Singapore
shipyards are also working through ASMI to seek solutions to common problems.

No one is pretending it is going to be easy to tackle the two "Ms" but the government has
declared its willingness to assist. At ASMI 's silver jubilee celebration, the Minister Without
Portfolio, Mr Lim Boon Heng said: "If ASMI can come up with creative solutions, the
government will be only too pleased to help implement them."

It began in the 70s

The manpower problem surfaced in the mid-70s when the industry encountered its first
setback after the 1973 oil shock. A seminar "Survival through Higher Productivity" was
organised by SASAR to focus the minds on manpower efficiency. Given the difficulty in
supervision in an open environment, then SASAR President Chua Chor Teck said: "The
solution must lie in the worker himself. He has to develop sufficient self-discipline and
acquire a high sense of duty in order to attain higher levels of output.

SASARs effort was complemented by campaigns in member yards to convey the need for
improved efficiency in the face of an uncertain future. But as the 1980s rolled in, it was not
only a question of improving the quality, but also increasing the quantity. There were more
vacancies than men willing to fill them. The industry was prospering, so was Singapore, with
the over overwhelming success of her industralisation programme. Foreign workers has to be
brought in, first from Malaysia then from India, Bangladesh and Thailand, to make up for the
shortfall. From the outset, the government made it clear foreign workers were only to serve as
a stop-gap measure.

A Task Force on Mechanisation was initiated by the Economic Development Board (EDB)
and SASAR to reduce the industry's dependence on foreign workers. Then SASAR President
Lai Park On noted: "The era of solving the problem by numbers is over." The report
recommended that there should be fewer, but larger shipyards through closures and mergers,
more mechanisation, better work procedures to enhance productivity and increased research
and development. It added that more effort must be made to attract Singaporeans to work in
shipyards. The intention was to reduce the labour force, then totalling 30,000.
With the onslaught of recession, however, plans at improvement were derailed as key players
were pre-occupied with fire-fighting. Some of the problems, too, took care of themselves. But
when the industry recovered, the problems came back with a vengeance. Retrenched workers
were not prepared to rejoin the industry after being laid-off. And fewer Singaporeans were
prepared to consider a career in an industry, which was written off as a "sunset industry".
Enrolment at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering Department
fell to 21 in 1986, putting its future in doubt. The closure was staved off only after ASMI
responded to the department's request for sponsorships.

Even more foreign workers had to be hired to fill the yawning gap. It was this easy access to
workers which had contributed to the industry's success. The Ministry of Labour was troubled
by the growing numbers, some hired without proper papers. This culminated in a raid in 1989
for illegal foreign workers in shipyards and construction sites, the two sectors allowed to
recruit non-Malaysian workers.

Difficult though it sometimes appears to be, ASMI member yards and the Labour Ministry
have continued to meet to discuss, deliberate and disagree. With a certain amount of give-
and-take, the divisions between the two are not as sharp. "I am aware that the industry cannot
operate without a sizeable number of foreign workers, " then Minister of Labour Lee Yock
Suan told ASMI members at its 21st anniversary that year." However the industry should not
merely expand by adding more and more unskilled foreign labour. "Instead, it should
compete harder for suitable young Singaporeans by offering them rewarding careers with a
high level of training and job satisfaction. This has to do with future prospects of the industry,
its public image and safety record."

Mindful of the government concerns about migrant workers, the industry has buckled down
to resolve the problems of manpower and mechanisation. But ASMI also pleaded for
understanding. In a letter to the ED in December 1989, ASMI President Choo Chiau Beng
wrote: "Foreign workers provide a buffer against the ups and downs of a cyclical industry.
The recession that hit the marine industry only four years back has compelled shipyards to
reorganise its structure and seriously relook its manpower policies. The less efficient yards
have closed since, but the lessons of mass retrenchment have not been forgotten. Viewed
from this perspective, shipyards need to exercise a flexible wage and recruitment policy."

Attracting Local Talent

Annual career talks have been organised with Ngee Ann Polytechnic since 1990 to generate
an interest among the young. They seek to impress on students that the marine industry offers
a wide scope, not just the rough end. Said ASMI Vice-President, Mr Wong Peng Kin: "The
younger Singaporeans are shying away from the industry because of misconception.
Recently, the image of the industry has improved. We have to project our image that the
marine industry is high-tech and there are skills to be learned."
At the inaugural talk in February 1990, Managing Director of Sembawang Shipyard, Mr Tan
Mong Seng, told the 200 secondary students who turned up: "We need planners, we need
designers, engineers, people who are good in marketing and negotiating contracts. For that
you don't need to be full of brawn," To this, Mr Choo added: "It (the marine industry) is a
growing industry, it is a challenging industry and we work with a product we can identify
with. Every ship has a name. This gives us a lot of satisfaction. It is not a small part where
you don't know where it goes."

The need draw to sufficient numbers of talented young into the industry and to train them has
never been important. "To ensure out future, ..the industry must step up its efforts to attract
new entrants with good minds to lead and take us through the 21st century, said current
ASMI Vice President, Mr Tong Chong Heong at the association's 25th anniversary
celebration.

The government has stopped awarding scholarships for marine studies since the 1970s. These
scholarships were instrumental in helping Singapore built a core of keen and capable leaders
for the industry. ASMI members have stepped into the fore by offering scholarships to
promising students to pursue tertiary education in marine engineering and naval architecture,
at home and abroad.

The skills' level of the existing staff are also being upgraded. On ASMI's suggestion, Ngee
Ann Polytechnic in July 1993, introduced a two-year, part-time certificate course for mature
employees who cannot qualify academically for the diploma course, but have sound practical
experience. Said Mr Wong, who is also the Labour Committee Chairman: "There are those
who are interested to upgrade. They should be given the opportunity to. This could be our
future generation of foremen."

Preventing Accidents

As the industry's ability to recruit new entrants could be adversely affected by accidents,
ASMI members are taking renewed interest in addressing the industry's accident record., A
seminar cum workshop, "Accident Prevention in Shipyards", was organised on Oct 6, 1993,
to review existing systems.

No stones were left unturned in the deliberations. As a result, a string of recommendations

was made which sought to enhance the existing Vessel Safety Co-ordination Committee and
Permit-to-Work System, enforced after an accident in 1977; introduce safety auditing
systems; rein in the contract workers and improve safety training in shipyards.

A task force on safety headed by Mr T P Ng, General Manager (Production) of Sembawang

Shipyard, was set up to consider the plethora of recommendations which invariably follows a
major accident. The committee's tasks were to draw broad guidelines on the implementation
of a safety management system, standardise safety systems, procedures, signs and colour
codes, and prepare a selection criteria for contractors.
The present attention on safety is not a flash in the pan as member yards realise the untold
damage accidents can cause. As the Minister Without Portfolio, Mr Lim Boon Heng
observed: "The unfortunate reality is that a single accident in one shipyard affects the entire
industry. The negative image is hurting the industry at all levelsAt the worker level, the
industry has difficulty in recruiting fresh school leavers. At the management level, the present
ASMI or company sponsored scholarships are not tapping their fair share of the best brains in
Singapore."

Enlarging Singapores Manpower Pool

The Labour Ministry has made its position on foreign workers clear: the long-term solution
cannot be found in heavy borrowing of guest workers. But the ministry offered an alternative
- it is prepared to extend the work permits of qualified foreign workers. That opener was too
good an opportunity to miss. ASMI's Labour Committee promptly began work with the
Institute of Technical Education to introduce a Public Trade Test for 20 approved trades in
June 1991. Foreign workers who pass the practical tests qualify as skilled workers. Their
employers benefit from having to pay a lower foreign worker's levy of $250, in place of $350
for an unskilled worker, besides having a good chance of having the work permits extended
for another term or two.

With the benefit of training, the better-skilled workers could earn certificates and graduate to
become supervisors. That may entitle them the right to live and work in Singapore.

Working Smarter

The difficulties of employing locals and the problems associated with getting foreigners have
intensified the search for better ways of working. Improved mechanisation had been
identified back in 1982 by the Task Force on Shipyard Mechanisation, but as the economic
climate was unfavourable, the idea was shelved.

To kick off the second attempt a study mission was made to Japan jointly with the Economic
Development Board to learn about the latest technological developments. ASMI members felt
the dearth of detailed information on technical advancement was inhibiting the industry's
efforts at automation. Following the mission, five projects have been identified. To be
completed over the three-year period, these are computer-aided logistics management system,
improvement of ventilation in confined spaces, automation of the welding process, design
automation for marine/offshore installation of structures, design and analysis of multi-planar
tubular joints.

For each of these projects, the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research is
working with a specific company and researchers from key institutes to develop the
technology. The selected shipyards, four of which are ASMI members, are contributing their
manpower and resources, and offering their facilities as test sites. More energy and funds
have to be mobilised in the search for alternative solutions if shipyards are to break the cycle
of merely adding more workers to cope with more work.

Said Mr Tan: "There is a lot of innovation, a lot of jobs where the labour hours can be
reduced. Being a premier marine centre, Singapore can no longer depend on Europe and
Japan for solutions to improving her yards efficiency, as she did in the 1970s and 1980s.
When you are number one in the world you should take the lead."