THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the Research Council of Norway (RCN) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to renew their existing agreement on maritime research and development, education and training for another three years.

This marks the fifth MPA-RCN MoU signed to this effect.

"There is growing collaboration between Singapore and Norway in maritime research and development and this has benefited both countries. Building on the success of past projects under the MoU, we look forward to setting up further maritime research and development programmes with Norwegian institutions in the years to come," said MPA chief executive Lam Yi Young.

Said RCN director general Arvid Hallen: "An increasing number of Norwegian maritime companies have established their presence with headquarters for operation and strategic coordination in Singapore in the last few years. Norwegian R&D institutes and universities see Singapore as a strong collaboration knowledge hub for the future development into the Asian market."

Since 2000, MPA and RCN have cooperated in research in areas such as maritime environment, sustainable energy technology, offshore and marine engineering, and maritime operations and info-communications technology.

One of these research programmes is the collaboration between MPA and Det Norske Veritas' Clean Technology Centre (DNV CTC) on R&D in maritime environment and clean technologies. Through this programme, DNV CTC has embarked on joint industry projects to study the potential of the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in South East Asia as well as a feasibility assessment on LNG bunkering.