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SimPlus ‘Empowering Women in the Maritime Community’

SimPlus ‘Empowering Women in the Maritime Community’

The World Maritime Day theme for the year is “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community“. This provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of gender equality, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and to highlight the important – yet under-utilized – contribution of women within the maritime sector.

Empowering women fuels thriving economies across the world, spurs growth and development, and benefits everyone working in the global maritime community in the drive towards safe, secure, clean and sustainable shipping.

At SimPlus, we believe in gender equality at all levels. Starting with our founder Stuti Nautiyal, who worked hand in hand with her two co-founders, to lay the foundations of SimPlus, and henceforth the many talented technical staff, administrative staff and consultants we have had with us. The ladies have been as strong a pillar of support and strength at SimPlus, as their male counterparts. On SimPlus’ journey, with partners and clients, we have worked with and learnt from some amazing ladies, who have carved a niche for themselves in their professions.

To all past and present female staff at SimPlus – a big Thank You for your contributions! May you continue to soar high, and empower other women along the way!

SimPlus on the Technology Advisory Panel of Singapore Maritime Institute

SimPlus on the Technology Advisory Panel of Singapore Maritime Institute

Mr. Chen Chuanyu, SimPlus’ Director for Consulting Services, was recently appointed as a member of the Singapore Maritime Institute Technology Advisory Panel (“TAP”). Mr. Chen has over 20 years of experience in using computer simulation and data analytics to solve operational problems for the maritime industry. He has spearheaded SimPlus’ SmartPort initiatives, which serve as the building blocks of technology enablers for the Port of Singapore, notably including proactive anchorage management, remote pilotage, and Just-in-Time vessel arrivals.

The Singapore Maritime Institute (“SMI”) is a joint collaboration among Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (“MPA”), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (“A*STAR”) and Singapore Economic Development Board (“EDB”) as a Whole-of-Government initiative to support and promote maritime research, education and training.

Each year SMI rolls out research initiatives to support the maritime industry in Singapore. To ensure that the initiatives are of high scientific merits and high industry relevance, a TAP consisting of both local and international technology leaders from both the industry and academia were formed since 2015, as a structured platform to review submissions on SMI research programmes and projects.

SimPlus is honoured to be part of the TAP and looks forward to further contributing to Singapore’s Maritime R&D roadmap.

SimPlus at Maritime Innovation Lab

SimPlus at Maritime Innovation Lab

On MPA’s invitation, SimPlus has set up a base at the Maritime Innovation Lab (MIL). The ongoing research project for a Proof-of-Concept for Just in Time Planning and Coordination System is parked under the MIL setup.

The MIL is part of the broader MPA Living Lab efforts and consists of both physical and digital aspects to serve as a co-creation platform for innovation. The purpose-built facility will create an environment that enables experimentation and the test-bedding of innovative port services and intelligent ship operations. It also supports the Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map through encouraging open innovation and R&D partnerships among industry, regulator and the research and technology communities. Through the MIL setup, SimPlus will continue actively engaging in the latest innovation projects for the maritime industry.

Just-in-time arrivals, how ready are we?

Just-in-time arrivals, how ready are we?

SimPlus has been awarded a research project by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, to design and build a prototype Planning and Coordination System to facilitate the Just-in-Time arrivals of vessels, where port services are automatically provided upon vessel arrivals through real-time information sharing and coordinated planning.

JIT has been successfully implemented in other industries such as manufacturing. The central requirement to JIT is to be able to forecast demand accurately, which in the maritime context translates to providing wider information visibility on vessel status to the various players in the port maritime ecosystem. We believe that the advancement in technology, the willingness to adopt technologies and the need for collaborative decision-making have created an opportunity window for the maritime industry to revisit the JIT concept.

The project will involve various stakeholders to understand their requirements, considerations, and constraints, analyze the user requirements and come up with a framework for an information sharing system to facilitate JIT services in port. Scalability, extendability as well as interoperability of the system will be carefully considered in the process. The ultimate objectives are to reduce the turnaround time of vessels in port and optimize port resources and operation efficiency of service providers, whereby the port handling capacity will be enhanced.

The project aligns with SimPlus’ vision of enabling Smart Ports and we are excited to be part of this new initiative, working towards a future-ready Next Generation Port of Singapore.

Major milestone in Tuas Reclamation Project

Major milestone in Tuas Reclamation Project

Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Minister for Transport, witnessed the installation of the 221st and final caisson for Tuas Terminal Phase 1 reclamation today. “We have been reclaiming from the sea since independence. But the Tuas reclamation project is not more of the same; it applies complex state-of-the-art engineering expertise, using caissons for higher efficiency and safety…” said Mr. Khaw. The caisson transfer and installation, along with other marine activities including dredging and sand deposit, has been made safe and efficient based on the recommendations from the Formal Safety Assessments carried out by SimPlus.

The Tuas Terminal development project is a centerpiece of Singapore’s next-generation port vision entailing the consolidation of container port activities at all city terminals at Tanjong Pagar, Pasir Panjang, Keppel and Brani. Commenced in 2015, Phase 1 reclamation works are three-quarters completed and on schedule to be fully completed in 2021. When fully completed in 2040, Tuas Terminal is expected to be the largest container terminal in the world with a total capacity of up to 65 million TEUs.

SimPlus is proud to have contributed to this state-of-the-art maritime setup. Besides FSAs, we provide smart vessel tracking and monitoring solutions for the contractors and work closely with MPA to ensure the risk of marine operations is kept to as low as reasonably practical.

A video clip can be found from the MPA facebook page on the introduction of the project. Picture courtesy of MPA.

SimPlus at the 2018 International Symposium in Modelling and Simulation for Smart Systems

SimPlus at the 2018 International Symposium in Modelling and Simulation for Smart Systems

SimPlus was invited to present at the 2018 International Symposium in Modelling and Simulation for Smart Systems (MSG 2018). Our Managing Director Ms Stuti Nautiyal joined the panel discussion to share her ideas on the latest technical trends, research developments, and practical applications in maritime systems. Other panelists include practitioners from PSA International and ST Logistics.

Organized by the Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Simulation for Next Generation Ports (C4NGP), MSQ 2018 was held in National University of Singapore (NUS) on October 18 and 19, 2018, attracting over 100 participants from universities and industries. C4NGP was jointly established by NUS and Singapore Maritime Institute, to help Singapore’s maritime and port industries to develop innovative capabilities and enhance their global competitiveness. SimPlus looks forward to working hand in hand with C4NGP to enable smarter ports.