General Secretary Message 2025 - SeaVoices - Singapore Maritime Officers’ Union (SMOU) Publication

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30 Dec 2025

7 mins

General Secretary Message 2025

Guided by Purpose; United in Strength

As SMOU steps into its 75th Anniversary in 2026, we do so with a renewed understanding of what has shaped us across generations.

The theme for our anniversary, “Guided by Purpose; United in Strength,” captures the heart of our story, where we have come from and where we are headed.

Purpose has been SMOU’s guiding star from the beginning: protecting seafarers, supporting families, strengthening the Singapore Core, and flying the Singapore flag high.

Strength has always arisen from people: our members, leaders, staff, tripartite partners, and supporters who, together, built a union that endures.

Reflecting on 2025, four defining qualities emerge: Care, Courage, Craft and Community. They influenced the year’s decisions and initiatives, and they will frame how SMOU celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2026 as a collective movement of gratitude, unity, and hope.

CARE – Strengthening Lives

Care, for SMOU, shows up in people’s lives.

In 2025, care looked like reinstating the enhanced Tripartite Maritime Training Award (TMTA) so that Singaporeans could embark on a disciplined, structured pathway into seafaring.

Eleven TMTA cadets, 6 Deck and 5 Engine, trained at Wavelink Maritime Institute (WMI), combining classroom lessons with simulator practice, and then embarked on their first ships with a union backing them. Once a pipeline at risk of weakening has been reinforced again, one cadet, one voyage at a time.

The revival of TMTA is significant because it restores a viable pathway for Singaporeans to enter maritime careers. Our Youth Division has worked tirelessly to engage potential candidates through events, career fairs, and outreach sessions with schools, National Servicemen, and navy personnel. SMOU is already preparing for the next batch scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2026.

Care also involves paying close attention to mental well-being. SMOU continued to create safe spaces for honest conversation, including a Women’s Networking Session where psychologist and leadership coach Ms Preeti Dubey spoke candidly about bullying, harassment, and the emotional pressures of life at sea.

Beyond focused sessions, SMOU backed industry efforts such as mental health events at the Jurong Port Maritime Welfare Centre, where partners collaborated to raise awareness and normalise conversations around seafarers’ psychological well-being.

At Lighthouse Bistro, care took the form of a warm, accessible social space. It hosted the Young Seafarers’ Get Together 2025, where close to 60 young officers and alumni gathered to mark the Day of the Seafarer, exchanging stories and encouraging those just starting out.

It was also the venue where SMOU held the Volunteers Appreciation Dinner 2025, honouring 62 members who contributed their time to Care and Share events. Over the years, the heavily subsidised $9.80 member set lunch specials at Lighthouse have made it a place where seafarers and members can enjoy a good meal.

In 2025, care extended beyond our members to the wider community. SMOU continued supporting Henderson Home and children from My First Skool @ Jalan Sultan, with leaders and youth volunteers offering time, celebrations, and small gestures that made a meaningful difference.

As SMOU enters its 75th year, this care remains the foundation of every celebration.

COURAGE – Shaping the Future

SMOU’s courage lies in the choices made behind the scenes, the ones that rarely attract attention but shape the course of the coming decade.

One such decision is the commitment to a new SMOU home. Despite complex land and construction challenges, the leadership stayed the course, holding to the vision of a central space for training, simulation, union services, and community life, a tangible investment in the future of Singapore’s seafarers.

Courage also meant preparing members for a rapidly changing maritime landscape. In 2025, SMOU and WMI focused on future fuels and decarbonisation, recognising the growing role of LNG, methanol, and new energy systems. At regional seminars and forums, from Chennai to Manila, Singapore officers exchanged insights with global counterparts, while back home, WMI ran a subsidised dual fuel workshop introducing officers and cadets to LNG and methanol operations.

Reinstating TMTA, maintaining strong tripartite cooperation, and investing in future-focused training all entail risks and costs. 2025 has shown us that courage is about making consistent, long-term decisions that enable us to celebrate 75 years with confidence.

CRAFT – Raising Standards, Building Confidence

Craft is the discipline of performing tasks well. For SMOU, it involves creating pathways that enable competence, professionalism, and safety to establish themselves and flourish in our seafarers.

Mentorship remains a key focus, pairing younger seafarers with experienced officers to enhance their development, uphold SMOU’s values, and strengthen safety and professionalism. Our mentors are trained under the “Bold at Work” programme to guide with clarity, confidence, and care. Senior officers generously dedicated their time, mentoring younger officers through real-life scenarios and equipping them not only with technical skills but also with the judgment expected of bridge and engine room leaders.

Looking ahead, SMOU’s craft is evolving in line with the industry to ensure that the Singapore core remains strong and no seafarer is left behind.

COMMUNITY – The Heartbeat of the 75th Year

SMOU’s family spans generations: Pioneers who remember when the union office was too modest to host company visits; mid-career officers balancing sea time with parenting; retirees who still feel at home at Lighthouse Bistro; and cadets just beginning their maritime journey.

In 2025, that sense of family came alive in new ways at the Generations Together @ SMOU Carnival, an intergenerational CSR event where members spent the day with seniors and children. They distributed care bags and made home visits. The event also brought seniors and K2 children together for games, crafts, and performances, showcasing the warmth and unity of our maritime community.

SMOU also strengthened relationships through ongoing initiatives, from festive visits to Henderson Home to Young Seafarers’ Get Together evenings at Lighthouse Bistro to gatherings where seafarers commemorated the Day of the Seafarer by reconnecting with peers and volunteers at Jurong.

These events embody the spirit of unity, where youth, seniors, families, and partners recognise that they are part of the same story.

Looking Ahead – A Celebration Rooted in Values

In 2026, that story will be celebrated in a particularly meaningful way through the 75th Anniversary Mega Cruise in March. Inspired by the historic 1981 “cruise to nowhere” that helped shape Singapore’s tripartite landscape, this modern voyage will bring together members, leaders, and partners not only to enjoy a few days at sea but also to remember how far the union has come and to reaffirm the journey ahead.

As we step into our 75th year, 2026 will be alive with activity, with a celebratory event every month, including

The all-time favourite monthly $9.80 set lunches worth $65 at Lighthouse

An exclusive family outing at Universal Studios Singapore block booked for SMOU in June

Meaningful CSR activities, including a blood donation drive

Heavily subsidised Future Fuels training on Methanol, a bold investment to ensure every officer stays ahead

Gala Dinner for SMOU family and partners to gather in style to commemorate the milestone in November

A range of community outreach events

For SMOU, the 75th anniversary marks decades of resilience, sacrifice, and solidarity. The year will move SMOU to a future shaped by deeper care, steadier courage, sharper craft, and stronger community.

This milestone is a reminder never to be complacent and never to allow what others have built to be torn down. Instead, it is a call to honour the past, strengthen what has been entrusted to this generation, and keep building so that the next 75 years will be marked by the same purpose-driven resolve that brought SMOU this far.