By VINCENT WEE

The Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) yesterday took a bold step to try and retain staff through collaborating with the Singapore Industrial and Service Employees' Union by announcing new training schemes and financial incentives for companies and staff in the shipping industry.

The association has been appointed the first Continuing Education and Training Centre (CET) in the maritime industry, and Singapore's 43rd CET by the Workforce Development Agency (WDA).

This enables Singaporeans and permanent residents attending SSA-run courses to get the WDA's Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur) course fee subsidies of up to 90 per cent and absenteeism payroll reimbursements of up to $6.80 an hour for employers.

SSA currently runs 11 courses and will add another two next year.

Shipping companies have sent 580 staff for training this year and the association hopes this number will double to 1,100 next year.

The range of courses run the gamut from documentation to shipping operations and marine insurance among others.

SSA has been conducting these courses for shore-based rank-and-file personnel since 1991 and they are a stepping stone to the Diploma in Ship Operations and Management programme which is run by the association, the Maritime and Port Authority and Singapore Maritime Academy.

Announcing the scheme at its annual year-end cocktail and urging its 356 members to tap Spur as a means to cut costs and save jobs, SSA president SS Teo said: 'I hope and believe that this scheme will help some companies to delay their plans for any actions they may want to take and I urge our members to take a longer term view on this basis.'

There are already seven early adopters of the scheme.

Hong Lam Marine, K Line (Singapore), Ocean Tankers, Neptune Orient Lines, Pacific International Lines, Regional Container Lines and Winstonnage Agencies have committed 375 staff to this initiative.

'As companies we can already look forward to enhance our training schemes in view of the anticipated savings to our training budget. It is a win-win situation for both employees and companies,' said Ocean Tankers chief operating officer Aloysius Seow.

In addition, SSA also gave $69,400 as an endowment to the Nanyang Technological University to sponsor on an annual basis one to two maritime studies degree undergraduates going abroad for their exchange semester.

With the government's dollar-for-dollar matching, the $138,800 amount will be self-sustaining for years to come.

Mr Teo emphasised the fact that companies should not be short-sighted in dealing with the current downturn and must be ready to quickly ramp up capacity when the turnaround comes.

'We should not forget that as recently as early this year we were still screaming for staff and when the economy recovers shipping in Asia will become more important so if we want to succeed as an international maritime centre everybody should play their part,' he said.

Mr Teo added that shipping continues to contribute 7.5 per cent of GDP and employs 120,00 people now and believes the projected figure of 200,000 in the next 10 years is on track to be met despite the current blip.

This article was first published in The Business Times on December 12, 2008.