Captain Hari Subramaniam - Singapore National News

Indeed, Yin, thank you. And of course, the APM, which kicks off on the 13th from Wednesday to Friday. In case you haven't signed up, do so and come talk to us. It'll be great to rub shoulders together. Now, the shipping industry is evolving. I mean, it's a fantastic industry and there's a lot of change coming up. Most of it is good, but of course, it's all building blocks. We take small steps to reach where we have to reach, and that's how we're all working together. Whether digitalization is a boon or a bane, I mean, we could spend the whole day discussing it, but definitely there are always positive steps. We're also coming into sustainability. We're talking of going towards decarbonization, and that is not possible without digitalization, so it's a huge step and both are going hand in hand. Of course, we have to be very careful because the risk of being exposed to cyber attacks is always prevalent. Vulnerabilities in the system are mainly due to the human interface, similar to how our people fall prey to phone scams. There are many seafarers who aren't very conversant with the various modus operandi of cyber attacks. Simply by even plugging their phones into a USB port of a ship's equipment is enough to give cyber hackers an opportunity to get their way into the system and bring the whole ship, and perhaps even the ship organization, to its knees. We see it coming time and again in the news, so we have to continually train our seafarers, which of course the P&I clubs, the insurance companies such as mine, undertake to make sure that they are abreast of what's happening in the world.

Oh, greening is going in a big way actually, and Singapore is taking a lead by aiming to go net zero within the harbour craft industry by 2030. So from 2030 onwards, all new harbour crafts have to go net zero. I think Singapore, again the trendsetter, has set down the gauntlet saying that we will get there. A lot of people are just kind of trying to see who blinks first, but we are actually taking it, taking the bull by the horns and taking the challenge all the way. Now, there are a lot of technologies moving fast and in the right direction. At the moment, there is no magic fuel in terms of alternate fuels, but there is a lot of development in terms of shorter interim fuels as well as longer term fuels, again also for a successful transition. Shipping is not only about shipping; it's also the ports, who have to walk hand in glove with shipping, or else there will be a disconnect and may put the entire targets that shipping and every country has to meet the IMO GHG strategic targets at risk. This would also change the landscape of the bunker industry as there are so many alternate fuels and players. We have electrification, LNG, ammonia, hydrogen, methanol, biofuels, carbon capture, and so on and so forth. I mean, it's a huge list, but everything is actually coming up together so that shipping companies have a lot of options based on their type of ship and operations. But the point I would like to make is that this move for shipping to transition to a sustainable one is actually something that would require all stakeholders to pitch in together, as finally it's a goal to save one common interest: our planet.

Oh, very good. And I did listen to the previous one. I think it's spot on. There is so much dynamism in the shipping ecosystem: changing technologies, rules and regulations, geopolitical conflicts. The seafarer is coping but he needs a lot of help. So my company, the Shipowners' P&I Club, we are part of the International Group of P&I Clubs, and single-handedly we actually insure close to 34,000 ships, and so we have experience with a lot of crews. The problem is everyone tries to jump into mental well-being of seafarers, whereas they need to take it step by step. Physical health is also such an important thing, and there are many aspects of well-being. So as insurers, what we do, since people are the most important risk in all industries, especially more so ours, we make sure we have a structured approach towards seafarers. It's important they feel the love, and whatever we roll out to them needs to be meaningful. We take a great deal of interest in their physical health and also that of their families. So we are trying to change the entire ecosystem of them and their families, because families are very important for the seafarers. And step by step, in terms of training as well for new technologies, and in how they take care of their diet, how they take care of their health, how they manage to de-stress, how we manage to reach programs to them, this is also important. And we're trying to make a very holistic approach towards making sure that what we roll out is actually just trying to fix what is broken. We aren't just rolling it out for the sake of doing so, and it's important we walk the talk and we share this burden with the seafarers.

Yeah, that is actually, unfortunately, what goes on in that part of the world. We've seen it happen so often because of the constriction of shipping and it's a direct route between the East and the West. The problem with that is it all boils down to the contractual obligations under the charter party. So if a vessel wants to deviate its voyage and transit around the Cape of Good Hope instead of cutting across the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, I think proper legal introspection is required of their charter party to make sure that they are not in breach. Otherwise, that can give rise to legal terms because many of these have actually been fixed; the vessels have been fixed on their charter before the problem broke out, so it may mean a deviation. The P&I premiums aren't exactly affected, but I understand the war risk premiums for transit in the Red Sea areas have doubled, which is substantial. It's pegged to nearly close to 1% of the cost of the vessel, and in recent weeks since the Joint War Committee decided to extend and include this area under high risk, it means overall longer voyages, much higher costs in fuel, etc. And in this case, I think most probably the cost is going to be passed on to the consumers.