Lim Soon Heng, BE, PEng, FIMarEST,
Senior Advisor/Founding President of Society of FLOATING SOLUTIONS (Singapore)
| Date | 15 April 2021, Thursday |
| Time | 06:30 pm to 10.00 pm (SGT) |
| Venue | SPGG (Singapore Polytechnic Graduates’ Guild), Grand Ballroom, Level 3 1010 Dover Road, Singapore 139658 |
Synopsis
Industries evolve like living organisms. New threats emerge with each passing year. In shipbuilding industry, kings and pretenders have walked past the global stage in succession. We see them wax and wane in the US, UK, Japan, South Korea, and China. The pretenders to the throne are in the wings in many corners of this planet: Middle East, South America, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Singapore did well to survive four decades; thanks to good timing (the rush to exploit offshore oil and gas following a series of energy crisis since 1973.) and a policy to replace escalating labour cost with a flood of cheap manpower from various countries. Unwittingly in so doing, we have also prepared the stage for new challengers. The efficacy of that strategy is tapering. The sun will set on the Singapore yards crippled by both (indigenous) labour and land shortage.
Can Singapore marine professionals find a different pathway to remain relevant? What opportunities are there in the face of rising seas and crushing land scarcity for development, for them to make contributions that only they equipped as they are by their training and experience are able to deliver?
A paradigm shift is needed to create more space for the economy to grow. Having reclaimed more than 150 sq. km of its territorial waters a new option is needed. Those who have spent decades designing ships and rigs have now the opportunity to repurpose that expertise to design floating islands for a nation so desperately in need of land.
About the Speaker
A mechanical engineering graduate of the National University of Singapore, he is a Fellow of the IMarEST.
Joining the industry in 1968, he is one of the pioneers of the Singapore marine industry. His expertise ranges from shipbuilding to the feasibility assessment, planning and design of shipyards across several countries around the world.
He founded the Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore) in 2017, initiated the First World Conference on Floating Solutions and advised the organisation of the second World Conference on Floating Solutions in Rotterdam in October 2020.
He champions the concept of mega floating structures to mitigate the threat of rising seas, and climate change. He abhors the practice of land reclamation with imported sand. As President of the Society, he has engaged officials of the Singapore government as well as members of the public to go beyond the conventional is space creation.
Due to this COVID pandemy all our talks so far have been arranged online. But currently our government have slightly raised the restrictions at Stage 3, and we would like to use this opportunity to arrange this Talk (specifically) in-person, following by dinner – something that we missed for so long.
However, there are some rules and regulations we still must follow:
- Total number of participants shall not be more than 50. So, registration will be open until fully booked – “first come first serve”.
- We must submit list of participants to government 1 week before event, so registration will be closed on 07.04.2021 at midnight.
- The box dinner will be provided to all participants for free. But we would like to eliminate loses due to no-show, so cancellation of registration will be allowed only before 07.04.2021 midnight (using Eventbrite webpage or by directly emailing to me). After that no cancellation/replacement will be accepted, and each no-show case will be fined $25.0.
- During this event the safe distancing and masks will be mandatory, excluding time for taking meal. All participants will be assigned to tables (5 pers per table) and no change of place will be allowed.
- Dress code -casual, no collarless T-shirts, no torn jeans, no bermudas, no sneakers / track shoes, no sports attire, no singlets and flip-flops
For more information please see attached flyer.
To register your attendance, please CLICK HERE