Singapore and Norway Renew Cooperation in Maritime Research and Development

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today, to renew their bilateral agreement on maritime Research and Development (R&D), education and training for another three years.

The fifth MPA-RCN MoU was signed by MPA’s Chief Executive, Mr Lam Yi Young and RCN Director-General, Mr Arvid Hallen.

“There is growing collaboration between Singapore and Norway in maritime research and development and this has benefitted both countries. Building on the success of past projects under the MoU, we look forward to setting up further maritime research and development programmes with Norwegian institutions in the years to come,” said Mr Lam Yi Young, MPA’s Chief Executive.

Mr Arvid Hallen, RCN Director General said, “An increasing number of Norwegian maritime companies have established their presence with headquarters for operation and strategic coordination in Singapore in the last few years. Norwegian R&D institutes and universities see Singapore as a strong collaboration knowledge hub for the future development into the Asian market. Research and innovation is global, and I believe that Norway and Singapore represent two of the most complete maritime clusters in the world – a good basis for joint collaboration.”

A Norwegian delegation is currently in town to attend the Singapore Maritime Week and the joint MPA-RCN workshop on Green Shipping, and Offshore Operation and Navigation.

First signed in 2000, and renewed in 2003, 2006 and 2009, the MPA-RCN MoU is in line with MPA’s commitment to leverage R&D as a key enabler in the growth and development of the Singapore maritime cluster.

Since 2000, MPA and RCN have co-operated in research in areas such as maritime environment, sustainable energy technology, offshore and marine engineering, and maritime operations and info-communications technology.

One of these research programmes is the collaboration between MPA and Det Norske Veritas’ Clean Technology Centre (DNV CTC) on R&D and test-bedding in maritime environment and clean technologies. Through this programme, DNV CTC has embarked on Joint Industry Projects to study the potential of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in South East Asia as well as a feasibility assessment on LNG bunkering .

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Source: MPA, April 23, 2012