THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has selected three proposals to be piloted in Singapore, following its call for proposal (CFP) in August 2023 to develop, operate and maintain electric harbour craft charging points within the city-state.

These concepts were proposed by a partnership between SP Group’s mobility arm SP Mobility, Pyxis Energy and Pyxis Maritime; Seatrium O&G (International); as well as Malaysian energy infrastructure and technology company Yinson’s subsidiary, Yinson Electric.

They were chosen among 12 proposals received by MPA at the close of the CFP on Aug 29, 2023, for the two-year pilot with an option to extend for one more year.

On Wednesday (Jan 10), MPA said that it selected a direct current (DC) charging concept, proposed by the partnership between SP Group and Pyxis, to be deployed at Marina South Pier. This was based on the viability of the concept’s proposed price charging model, as well as the consortium’s experience and good track record of implementing charging points for electric vehicles, noted MPA.

The SP Group-Pyxis partnership also plans to operate its fleet of electric harbour craft at Marina South Pier.

MPA viewed these electric harbour craft as “a base offtake to ensure optimisation of the charging infrastructure and enable comprehensive data to be gathered” during the pilot, which is planned from March 2024 to March 2026 with an option to extend by a year to March 2027.

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The authority added that SP Group and Pyxis’ concept could be applied to other sites to support electric harbour craft operations in the Port of Singapore.

Insights from data collected from the pilot will further contribute towards the development of a national electric harbour craft charging infrastructure master plan, implementation plan, as well as national standards for such charging infrastructure to support electric harbour craft operations in Singapore.

In addition to the proposal by the SP Group-Pyxis partnership, MPA said that it “assessed potential” in an innovative mobile concept proposed by Seatrium, along with a 350 to 450 kilowatt high-power DC charger concept proposed by Yinson.

The authority added that it intends to work with Seatrium and Yinson to further develop their respective concepts prior to testing, and for future applications in Singapore through research and development collaboration.

From 2030, all new harbour craft will have to be fully electric, be capable of using pure biodiesel, or be compatible with net-zero fuels such as hydrogen.

MPA said that it plans to progressively roll out the charging infrastructure for such electric harbour craft operations in Singapore from 2025. The authority will “continue to monitor technology trends and develop pilots to support the development of electrification charging standards for domestic maritime activities”.