Lyna Mohamad
“Brunei Gas Carrier (BGC) has always believed in the importance of skilled talents, and that people are the most important asset in our organisation. We believe that every individual that we are commemorating today are currently or will imminently play a pivotal role in the country’s economy to help deliver Brunei’s precious LNG cargoes.”
This was said by BGC Managing Director Pengiran Shamhary bin Pengiran Dato Paduka Haji Mustapha during the BGC’s third Maritime Talent Pipeline Achievements Ceremony (MTPAC) at its headquarters in Jerudong yesterday.
He added that, to ensure the company remain competitive and have a highly capable workforce, BGC has implemented several programmes to supplement employees’ continuous growth and life-long learning including BGC’s Higher Ticket Certification Programme and other functional expertise or skills development programmes through coaching and mentoring, and the recently introduced leadership programme – ‘It Starts with Me’.
Meanwhile, the cadetship programme is an important initiative and steppingstone to create a pool of credible local mariners and engineers to fuel the maritime talent pipeline, in line with BGC’s aspirations to help develop the nation’s resources for safe and reliable maritime transportation and realising Brunei Vision 2035, Pengiran Shamhary said.
“Today, I’m proud to share that various formal partnerships, established over the years via the signing of memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with regional maritime institutions, have begun to bear fruits.
“Following the partnership with Akademi Laut Malaysia (ALAM) in July last year, BGC has gained access to specialised training for marine steam engineers to obtain marine motor engineering licences.
“Most notably, ALAM’s technical and training support has aided BGC in the set-up of the Bridge Simulator Training Centre (BSTC).”
The BSTC will now open the path for expansion of BGC’s partnership with the Brunei Maritime Academy (BMA) that was formalised in November 2020 in addition to the existing provision of teaching resources, Pengiran Shamhary added.
“With the Singapore Maritime Academy, BGC currently has two deck cadets undergoing the cadetship programme, and where our seafaring personnel are completing their mandatory STCW certification training with one engineering officer studying for his second Class licence since September 2021, demonstrating BGC’s close and working collaboration with these institutions,” he added.
“We are constantly looking at ways to improve ourselves. In these unprecedented times, the ability of shipping services to continue undisrupted across the continents plays a critical role in overcoming the current pandemic. As such, we must remain steadfast, by quickly adapting to the new norm and exploring new means in devising solutions to today’s issues.”
The managing director said, “BGC has also recognised the disruptors to its business, namely the energy transition, the shifts in the LNG market with increasing competitiveness and focus on shipping costs and keeping pace with digitalisation and technological advancements, including the increasing risks on cyber security.
“For the latter, technological advancements have always played a key role in ensuring business sustainability through increasing productivity and output, reducing our environmental impact, and transforming the way we work,” he said, adding that technological change this century has been exponential, and it will continue to evolve at a rapid rate and businesses need to adapt accordingly.
“BGC has established its own digitalisation roadmap comprising five key pillars – operation optimisation, fleet safety and reliability, process and data excellence, cost competitiveness, and digital competency.
“BGC have successfully rolled-out the Crew Manning System in 2020, Power BI Programme in 2021, the Crew Portal which is a one stop web-based application for seafarers, and is on course to launch its Enterprise Content Management System later this year,” added Pengiran Shamhary.
