AsiaOperationsShipyards

Sembcorp Marine reduces workforce by over 19,000 due to Covid-19

Singapore shipbuilder Sembcorp Marine has temporarily reduced the workforce at its yards by over 95% as part of its Covid-19 mitigation measures.

According to the company, its operating yard workforce of about 20,000 people was substantially reduced to just 850 after the Ministry of Manpower announced movement restriction measures that disallowed migrant workers from leaving their dormitories for work on April 21.

The reduced workforce was deployed to manage critical works and support yard essential services such as emergency response teams, facilities and utilities management, dormitory operations, medical centres and yard security.

The movement restriction measures and other so-called circuit breaker measures in Singapore have been extended to June 1.

Additionally, Sembcorp Marine said the industry-wide cuts in expenditures have affected the group’s ongoing negotiations and finalisation of new orders, including the Siccar Point Cambo FPSO project.

“Our yard activities have been severely constrained by the reduced workforce. We will continue to assess the impact on our project schedules and are working closely with our customers to manage the ongoing projects during this challenging period. We aim to reactivate our workforce and resume work safely and efficiently when the measures are lifted,” Sembcorp Marine said in a release.

Another Singapore shipbuilding group Keppel Offshore & Marine has also reduced its local workforce by over 20,000.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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