Singapore Port Authority Seeks Proposals for Fully Electric Harbor Craft

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) has issued an expression of interest (EOI) calling for proposals to design and promote the use of fully electric harbor craft in Singapore, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The EOI document is a further step towards MPA's rule that all new harbor craft operating in its waters to be fully electric, or run on biofuels or net-zero fuels from 2030. The final aim is to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

Proposals have to be submitted before midnight on Sept. 15 (1600 GMT).

The EOI will first focus on smaller harbor craft that typically have gross tonnage of 20 to 40, overall length of 10 to 20 meters, and combined shaft power of 200 to 400 kilowatts.

There are about 400 harbor craft with these specifications deployed in Singapore. Overall, there are 1,600 harbor craft operating in the port.

Proposals should consider design standards and guidelines for essential safety systems and vessel structure optimised for efficiency, battery management and energy storage systems. They should also demonstrate the commercial viability of business models based on an aggregated harbr craft fleet.

"With common referenced designs and the aggregation of demand, we hope to reduce the upfront premiums and operating costs for new harbor craft," said MPA Chief Executive Teo Eng Dih.

Operators with plans to deploy new harbor craft should also inform the MPA about their plans from January 2027, so that designs can be adjusted if required, the MPA said.

(Reuters - Reporting by Jeslyn Lerh; Editing by Tom Hogue)