Tripartite partnership for the transformation of the Singapore maritime industry - Part B : Industry's perspective

Singapore has served as the preferred global maritime hub in the region since the early 2000s. The country’s maritime industry prides itself to be a one-stop solution that serves most of the maritime-related needs of the region. The country has done so through the employment of forward-looking strategies, allowing itself to stay on the forefront of the global maritime market. However, the maritime market has since, been experiencing rapid and constant changes, invoking the need of restructuring to maintain its position in the global market. In responses to the threat of the changing economy, the Singapore government have launched several initiatives including the Industry Transport Maps (ITMs) to facilitate an effective tripartite partnership towards the transformation of Singapore’s Maritime Industry. This paper takes the stand that effective tripartite partnership between the 3 major parties: Government Agencies, Industry Firms and Workers Union, through the help of the Sea Transport ITM is the key to facilitating transformation in the Maritime Industry. It will conduct researches to examine primary motives behind each of the parties that may be conducive or unconducive against the proposed partnership. Research will be conducted through the use of a 3-Phase qualitative analysis process that collect information through a secondary source of literature review and primary source from interviews with relevant stakeholders. Information collected will then be cross-examined to synthesize a common trend amongst the different parties, isolating potential challenges for the tripartite partnership. Under the Industry’s perspective, this paper will examine factors relating to the nature of tripartism, underlying motive of industry firms, different needs between the sub-sectors, different motive of MNCs and SMEs, different mindset for transformation and so forth. Based on the results from the 3-Phase qualitative analysis process, recommendation will be formulated to outline contributory actions that the industry can take to facilitate the tripartite partnership.Bachelor of Science (Maritime Studies