Tan Beng Tee, a senior official at the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and one of the best known women in shipping in the Lion Republic, has warned the industry’s workforce needs to up its game when it comes to IT literacy.
Speaking at a briefing session ahead of the Sea Asia 2017 conference and exhibition next month, Tan said: “The advent of digitalisation will help improve processes in the industry but it will also disrupt the way you do business. With this in mind, there is a need for us to be prepared and start thinking about the new business models that will arise as a result of digitalisation in the industry.”
Tan continued: “Another area we need to start focusing on is the skills of our workforce. Shipping is a traditional and documents intensive industry. This will no longer be the case in the future with blockchain coming into the market. New skills will be required and we will need to start equipping our workforce with cross-disciplinary skills such as IT literacy and data analytics.”
Splash will be reporting live from Sea Asia. A day prior to the show starting sees the second annual Maritime CEO Forum take place at Singapore’s iconic Fullerton Hotel, organised by the parent firm of this site. The forum, which featured Tan as one of the panellists last year (pictured), promises the highest calibre speaker line up of any event during next month’s packed Singapore Maritime Week. Details of the event can be accessed by clicking here.
