It was exciting to bring the German maritime delegation to see the progress of PSA International's 65 million TEU Tuas Mega-Port. Now berth No. 13 is operative, a bit more than 2/3 of the first phase of total four phases. With the growing port, automation is becoming more and more impressive. Reclamation works for the further fingers is continuing. Thank you very much to Mark Soerensen, Wen Yao Ho and the whole team for welcoming us and bringing us around.

This year's Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) was a very engaging and buzzing week. Thank you Eng Dih Teo, Kenneth Lim and the whole Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) team to organise this. 

The German presence and the activities of the whole German maritime community have been very strong as never before in line with SMW's motto "Action meets Ambition". Center point was the first German Pavilion organised by the DMZ, German Maritime Centre. We welcomed Senior Minister of State, Amy Khor, and could share progress on the LOI which was signed between MPA and Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) Anstalt öffentlichen Rechts last September. 

The importance of the maritime industry for Germany was highlighted and represented by Wibke Mellwig and Bjoern Oriwohl from the German Federal Ministry for Digitalisation and Transport. 

With MPA we discussed how to start closer cooperation on the digital side, including training. Also decarbonisation and people development were subjects of the meeting and cooperation in the decarbonisation area like bio fuels shall be explored next. 

In the meeting with Lynn Loo, Dr Sanjay C Kuttan, Grace Lian from the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) the centre's activities for maritime decarbonisation were discussed in-depth. We shall explore what contribution Hamburg stakeholders can make. 

20 maritime companies and organisations were participating in the German Pavilion. For some companies it was the first time in Singapore. Many good meetings and discussions with existing and new partners and customers were held in the pavilion and all over Singapore during SMW. Digital Hub Logistics & Commerce, Mabanaft, NautilusLog, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, HHLA Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG, HHLA Next, FEHRMANN Tech Group, Lufthansa Industry Solutions, <cargonerds>, CargoKite, heyport, passify, OceanScore, Turtle, Port of Hamburg Marketing, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics, Kuehne+Nagel. 

The Hamburg reception has already become a fix event during SMW and we are growing bigger and bigger every year. Thank you Lee Lee Ong for all your work organising this and the delegation. 

SMW has been a good place to meet all the different maritime stakeholders from around the world. The projects and partnerships between organisations and companies from Singapore, Hamburg, and other global maritime partners are now positioned to continue consistently throughout the year.