SM Lee says rival ports are fast catching up, workers should not face industry changes alone

Singapore's port could fall behind rivals that are "fast catching up, and in some respects quite possibly ahead of us", Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Saturday (Oct 17), according to CNA. He urged technological change, but said workers should not be left to handle it by themselves.

The dinner where Mr Lee spoke celebrated eight decades of the Singapore Port Workers Union (SPWU), the body that represents employees of PSA.

Other ports are digitalising and automating too

Mr Lee said PSA has done well to adopt technology and upgrade its operations, but other regional ports are also digitalising and automating, and he pointed to Shanghai's Yangshan port as one example. "If PSA slackens or becomes complacent, we risk being left behind and losing our business," he said.

He noted that technology moved PSA from manual cargo handling to quayside and yard cranes, and that operators now control several cranes at once from a remote control centre. In the container yard, remotely-operated automated guided vehicles now do the work that people once did by driving prime movers.

Each time jobs changed, PSA retrained its existing workers instead of hiring new ones, Mr Lee said. The company built structured training programmes, while the unions encouraged workers to stay flexible and take up training.

Hard decisions and shared gains

Mr Lee said several port moves, including to Keppel, Brani, Pasir Panjang and Tuas Port, required workers to adjust, and the move to Tuas lengthened commuting significantly. To add bus services to Tuas South, SPWU and PSA management are being joined by government agencies, which are also studying the possibility of a Bus Rapid Transit system.

In the early 2000s, he recalled, Malaysia's Port of Tanjung Pelepas took away several major shipping customers from PSA. PSA changed strategy and cut costs decisively to win business back, which led to retrenchments and wage cuts. Mr Lee said PSA management explained why the steps were needed, and SPWU "negotiated hard with management to secure the best possible deal for the workers who had to leave".

In 2005, PSA paid workers a special gain-sharing payout for meeting cost-reduction and performance targets. Mr Lee said such close cooperation through ups and downs built trust and was a key reason for PSA's sustained success.

He said some other port worker unions resist technology, believing this protects jobs, but "over time their ports suffered, and so did their members."

New challenges and new roles

Mr Lee said the industry is also being reshaped by geopolitical tensions, climate change and disruptions to supply chains. New processes, skills and safety protocols will be needed for green fuels such as ammonia and methanol. Port operations are already being changed by progress in artificial intelligence, autonomous technology, sensors and robotics, and embodied AI may take over repetitive physical work like coning and de-coning.

He said there will be "higher-value tasks which are less physically demanding", as well as better jobs centred on data, judgment and decision-making, and completely new roles in areas such as sustainability management and alternative fuel options. "As in past waves of transformation, we must not leave workers to face these challenges alone," he said.

He also stressed strong tripartism, so that PSA's management, the unions and the workers can work in a "relationship of trust" to build a "disciplined and skilled workforce".