I am delighted to announce that the above three very eminent experts in floating structures have joined the Society’s Council during the month. They were nominated by Vice President Professor CM Wang and duly approved by the existing Council Members.

Associate Professor Ang Kok Keng received his B.Eng from the University of Singapore, M.Eng from the National University of Singapore and Ph.D from the University of New South Wales, Australia. His research interests include Computational Mechanics, Dynamics of High-Speed Rails and Design of Very Large Floating Structures. He has published about 180 technical papers in these areas. Presently, he is the Principal Investigator of a research project on Multi-Purpose Floating Structures funded by the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) Directorate and JTC Corporation.

Mr. Leow Ban Tat who has more than 30 years of experience in the marine and offshore industry in Singapore and overseas is the Managing Director of AME2 Pte Ltd, a consultancy company which provides services for strategic marketing and business development.  He is the inventor of NOAHS Eco-Ark® Floating Closed Containment Fish Farm and Lift-Doc®, an innovative offshore platform.

Mr. Leow holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Monash University, Australia, receiving the KPMG Peat Marwick Prize for Strategic Management, a First Class Marine Engineering Certificate of Competency from DTI in Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  Mr Leow was the President of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Singapore (SNAMES) from 2001 to 2002 and is a fellow member of SNAMES.  He served in a significant military defence role as National Serviceman Chief Engineering Officer with the Republic of Singapore Navy from December 1993 to July 2018.

Dr Allan Ross Magee received his PhD in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan, in 1991 after his MSE in 1986 and BSE in 1984.

He has more than 25 years of experience in offshore project and research environments, including over 15 years in the oil and gas industry at Technip, where he led the global design of several record-setting deep-water projects in the Gulf of Mexico and headed the new R&D Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is an expert in hydrodynamics, model testing, design and analysis, engineering management, planning, installation and fabrication of deep-water floating platforms.

He played a leading role in the conceptual design, analysis and evaluation of the TCOMS Deepwater Ocean Basin and its associated systems, and several major research projects at NUS, including Keppel-NUS Corporate lab and Multi-Purpose Modular Floating Structures.

He is currently PI /Co-PI for two major studies at TCOMS. He has over 75 publications, has won several awards and is active in organizing international conferences (OTC Asia, OMAE and FPSO JIP Week). He is a Fellow of the Institution for Engineers Singapore and the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

The Society’s already existing expertise in the engineering of floating solutions is certainly elevated to world class by the contribution of the three gentlemen. One of the Society’s aim is to create and be a national resource for floating solutions. In that regard we have come a long way in the short period since its inception about two years ago.

It is my ardent hope our urban planners and policy makers will tap into the resources of the Society.  Singapore is the world’s leading centre for the engineering and manufacturing of offshore oil exploration and production rigs including FPSOs and FLNGs. There is no reason why it cannot leverage on that skill set to nurture and develop it into a leading centre for the design of other floating assets including those in defence, infrastructural, industrial, institutional, recreational, commercial and residential sectors. It is a market so vast it practically defies imagination.

Singapore reclaimed 150 sq. km of land in the last 50 years. It can create another 150 sq. km of floating space at a much lower life cycle cost in the next fifty. It would cost about 2 to 3% of the corresponding GDP, a modest price for an investment which will remain productive for  more than a hundred years.

It is my hope too that members of the Society will reach out to other coastal cities around the world to help them understand that floating solutions can mitigate the threat of rising sea level as well support the global need to reduce mining sand which is doing enormous damage to the marine biodiversity.

President

Lim Soon Heng

25 August 2019