In a press release on Monday (15 October) the Ministry of Transport (MOT) announced the appointment of Ms Quah Ley Hoon as the incoming Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) with effect from 1 January 2019.
MOT stated that Ms Quah will take over from Mr Andrew Tan who will be retiring from the Administrative Service on 31 December 2018 to pursue new challenges. Ms Quah will join MPA as its Chief Executive (Designate) from 1 November 2018.
According to the ministry, Ms Quah Ley Hoon has held leadership appointments in various organisations including the then-National Population Secretariat under the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance and Mediacorp. Ms Quah, 42, holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Pantheon-Sorbonne in France as well as a Master of Business Administration from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD Business School) in Switzerland. Ms Quah is married with three children.
Mr Andrew Tan, 51, was appointed as the Chief Executive of MPA on 1 January 2014.
Mr Tan had led efforts to conceptualise and plan for the new Tuas Terminal through the multi-agency Next Generation Port 2030 Steering Committee.
MOT stated that Mr Tan established a strong maritime innovation eco-system and championed R&D to support strategic outcomes. He set up several centres of excellence, including on next generation port modelling and simulation at NUS, maritime energy and sustainability at NTU and maritime safety at Singapore Polytechnic.
He also started the region’s first maritime accelerator programme, Port Innovation Ecosystem Reimagined @ Block71 (or PIER 71), and the MPA Living Lab, to help start-ups and industry partners testbed and develop innovative solutions to improve port productivity and enhance maritime safety.
MOT also said that Mr Tan spared no efforts in fostering a culture of safety at sea. In 2014, he launched the inaugural Safety@Sea Week to promote safety practices for the maritime community based in Singapore.
Singapore has been consistently ranked as the top international maritime centre under Mr Tan’s leadership. To chart the future directions for the Singapore maritime cluster, Mr Tan also spearheaded the formation of a high-level International Maritime Centre 2030 Advisory Committee in 2016 to enhance Maritime Singapore’s long-term competitiveness. Together with the strong support of the industry and unions, the Sea Transport Industry Transformation Map was launched early this year, the ministry added.
On the international front, Mr Tan successfully led MPA’s efforts to secure the re-election of Singapore into the Council of the International Maritime Organisation in 2015 and 2017. Singapore was also elected to the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities Council for the first time in 2018. To promote greater collaboration between port regulators along the East-West Trade, Mr Tan established the Port Authorities Roundtable as a community of best practices, it noted.
