MPA seeks proposal to design full-electric harbour craft

Proposals can be submitted by 15 September 2023.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) declared that it issued an expression of interest (EOI) to invite to submit proposals to design and promote the adoption of full-electric harbour craft (e-HC) in Singapore.

The harbour craft was needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 to fulfill Singapore’s national zero goals.

“To support this goal, operators with new harbour craft plans should inform the MPA about their plans from January 2027, so that the designs can be adjusted if required. From 2030, all new harbour craft operating in the Port of Singapore will have to be fully electric, be capable of using B100 biofuel, or be compatible with net zero fuels such as hydrogen,” read the statement.

MPA seeks to support harbour craft companies by providing e-HC engineering reference designs and safety standards to adopt, as well as augmenting the companies to access better financing solutions and reduce the cost of production through aggregating overall demand for e-HC in the sector.

The EOI will allow MPA to assess and validate proposals for the best-in-class e-HC reference designs. 

Under the proposal, it will include design standards and guidelines for vessel structure that is optimised for efficiency, integrated battery management and energy storage systems, and essential safety systems that include emergency back-up, cybersecurity, and firefighting capabilities. 

Proposals will also be needed to demonstrate the commercial viability of various business models based on an aggregated harbour craft fleet to meet the demand at the Port of Singapore.  

An aggregated fleet aims to improve utilisation rates, encouraging more companies, especially those with smaller fleet sizes, to electrify their harbour craft, while providing efficient and responsive services to meet the needs of ships calling into Singapore.  

The EOI will focus on the design and support for transition to electrification of the smaller harbour craft. These are generally in the range of 20 – 40 tonnes in gross tonnage, have an overall length of 10 – 20 metres, and a combined shaft power ranging from 200 – 400 kilowatts. There are currently about 400 of these harbour craft deployed in the Port of Singapore.