Seatrium-TCOMS Ocean Lab established to advance design and operational performance of smart ocean systems and infrastructure

A master research collaboration agreement was signed on 27 April 2023 by the Chief Executive Officers of Seatrium and TCOMS, Mr Chris Ong and Professor Chan Eng Soon respectively, and witnessed by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Ms Low Yen Ling, Mr Mark Gainsborough, Chairman of Seatrium, and Mr Frederick Chew, Chief Executive Officer of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

With this agreement Seatrium and TCOMS will jointly pursue five main research thrusts centred on offshore renewable energy such as floating offshore wind systems; cleaner oil and gas solutions including smart floating production platforms; smart marine systems such as autonomous vessels and green ships; new energy solutions including ammonia (NH3), hydrogen (H2) and Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS); as well as digitalisation & data analytics for enhanced predictability and reliability of ocean systems and its infrastructure.

The agreement builds on joint projects conducted over the past five years between TCOMS and Seatrium, ranging from the digital twinning of autonomous tugs and offshore energy systems to the design evolution and validation of future offshore wind platforms and marine infrastructure. Some of the projects made use of the TCOMS ocean basin facility which can recreate extreme ocean conditions that may be faced by ocean systems and infrastructure across their asset lifecycle. Information derived from numerical simulations and physical tests in the ocean basin enable the industry’s designers and TCOMS’ scientists to validate how the ocean systems will perform. They will also use this knowledge to enhance their system’s field performance, through technologies such as digital twinning enabled by smart sensing, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

Mr Chris Ong, CEO of Seatrium, said, “We are glad to partner with a world class research centre like TCOMS to advance our capabilities in the area of offshore renewables, new energy and cleaner solutions for the offshore, marine and energy industries. This collaboration will allow us to accelerate our strategic growth into the renewable and clean energy segments and further diversify our business portfolio into new areas of offshore renewables, electrification, gas value chain as well as carbon capture and storage solutions. Co-innovation by talents in both organisations will enable testing, simulations, digital twinning and analysis to be performed in this world class ocean basin facility. We look forward to push new boundaries of engineering excellence to create transformative and sustainable offshore, marine and energy solutions for a greener future.”

“Singapore is putting strong emphasis on the development and commercialisation of innovative sustainability solutions, to achieve our nation’s long-term climate goals and to capture global opportunities in the green economy. Open innovation and public-private partnerships will be key. We look forward to the strong partnership between TCOMS and Seatrium to co-innovate new solutions, particularly in the maritime domain, and to solve real-world challenges in the global transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Mr Frederick Chew, CEO of A*STAR.

Professor Chan Eng Soon, Chief Executive Officer of TCOMS, said, “We are delighted to have the opportunity to support Seatrium in their transformative journey to develop innovative engineering solutions for the offshore, marine and new energy industries, especially in advancing the design and operational capabilities of ocean systems deployed in challenging marine environments. With advanced capabilities such as cyber-physical modelling and simulation, TCOMS researchers and scientists work closely with our industry partners to co-create solutions and stress-test solutions for performance, safety and sustainability. Together with Seatrium, we will also seek to nurture Singapore’s engineering talent, particularly our younger generation of engineers, to create and build future ocean systems and infrastructure.”