When the ship company clears customs in the future, it can save the complicated and complicated input of different ship certificates verbatim. The customs clearance application process can be shortened from the current three days to a few minutes.

The Ministry of Justice and Transport Minister Mu Renli said on Wednesday (March 5) that the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority will use technology to simplify port and shipping services, allowing the industry to enjoy higher productivity and reduce costs and labor needs.

For example, using artificial intelligence (AI) systems to simplify customs clearance procedures is expected to be launched in phases in the next few years.

At present, when applying for customs clearance, ship companies must submit up to 16 certificates in different formats and languages, and the Maritime Bureau must verify them one by one after receiving them. In addition to helping to save time for company employees to enter data personally, the new system will also improve the accuracy of the data.

The Maritime Administration developed two artificial intelligence tools last October – DocuMind and DocuMatch. The former uses a multimodal large language model to read data in different file formats; the latter will compare it with the internal database and then suggest whether to approve the application.

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These two tools were first used in January this year to improve the data accuracy and efficiency of registered ships in Singapore to renew insurance certificates. According to preliminary observations, the process of updating the insurance certificate was shortened from the original three days to five minutes. This system is expected to be launched into the entire industry by the end of this year.

Allocation of more sea space for unmanned driving system testing

In addition, the Maritime Bureau will allocate more maritime space to allow companies to test larger and more complex technological solutions, such as using unmanned driving systems to collect floating objects, cleaning hulls with robots, remotely controlling the operation of transport ships, and using drones to conduct maritime inspections and delivery. The Maritime Bureau hopes to use this to attract international maritime technology operators and starting companies to take root locally.

At present, maritime technology experiments are mainly carried out at the Raffles Reserved Anchorage in the west. Expanding the experimental zone and sandbox plan will help speed up the technology development cycle and make the solutions commercialized faster.

A Maritime Bureau spokesman said more space was located in the Changi area and the western anchorage. The authorities will assign appropriate testing locations based on the nature of the test plan.

The Maritime Drone Estate, established in 2021, will be rebuilt near the original site to accommodate more and larger drones and test more services. For example, remote inspections are conducted at the eastern anchorage and the provision of “shore-to-ship” delivery services, as well as test drones to deal with maritime accidents, etc. The existing maritime drone testing area will not be stopped after the new facility is put into operation.

The maritime drone test area is close to Binhai South Pier, and has carried out nearly 1,000 drone flight missions since its establishment.

As for the progress of 5G networks in the maritime field, as of last year, five 5G base stations have been installed and put into operation. By the end of this year, another seven base stations will be enabled. By then, all major waterways, anchorages, docks and boarding points will be connected to the 5G network.

The Maritime Bureau said that after the expansion of the coverage of 5G network, Singapore port users can enjoy more stable and fast network links. This will also help us develop new maritime services and innovative solutions.