Singapore Readies 'Floating Hotels' for Workers as Coronavirus Spreads

Aradhana Aravindan
Monday, April 13, 2020

Singapore is preparing to house hundreds of foreign workers in accommodation vessels typically used for offshore and marine industry staff as it races to find alternatives to dormitories where the novel coronavirus has been spreading rapidly.

Tens of thousands of migrant workers, many from South Asia, live in cramped dormitories across Singapore, which have become the biggest source of coronavirus infections in recent days.

Authorities are moving some of the healthy residents of those facilities to other sites including military camps, an exhibition center, vacant public housing blocks and the accommodation vessels, which they have called "floating hotels".

"Each facility can hold a few hundred occupants and can be suitably organized to achieve safe distancing," Minister of Transport Khaw Boon Wan said in a Facebook post on Sunday after he visited one of the vessels.

They are docked in a restricted area in a port terminal, Khaw said.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said it was working with terminal operator PSA Singapore, Keppel Corp's rig-building unit, floating accommodation barge provider Bibby Maritime Ltd and serviced apartment operator The Ascott Ltd to bring in and manage two floating accommodations.

Khaw released photographs of a basic, clean cabin with three beds covered in blue linen, and said the residents would be able to use a deck for an hour of exercise every day.

Meals will be prepared off-site and delivered to the cabins to minimize intermingling. A medical facility is also being set up nearby on land.

Singapore reported 233 new coronavirus cases on Sunday taking its total to 2,532, eight of whom have died. 

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore Editing by Robert Birsel)

Categories: Offshore Energy Activity Asia Rigs Safety & Security Singapore

Related Stories

PTTEP Acquires Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block from Chevron’s Hess Unit for $450M

Seatrium Makes First Turnkey FPSO Delivery to Petrobras

Baker Hughes, Petronas Team Up for Asia-Pacific Energy Resilience

EnQuest Acquires Harbour Energy’s Vietnamese Assets

Woodside Finds South Korean Partners to Advance LNG Value Chain

Valeura Makes Progress with Multi-Well Drilling Campaign in Gulf of Thailand

One Shelf Drilling Rig Up for New Job in India, Other for Disposal

Four Jack-Up Drilling Rig Deals Set to Bring In $129M for Borr Drilling

Yinson Production Secures $1.17B Refinancing for FPSO Maria Quitéria

Keyfield Ventures into Indonesia’s Oil and Gas Market with New Partner

Current News

PTTEP Acquires Southeast Asia’s Offshore Block from Chevron’s Hess Unit for $450M

Valeura Energy, PTTEP Partner Up on Gulf of Thailand Blocks

Sapura Scoops Over $118M for Chevron, PTTEP Subsea Ops off Thailand

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

China Rolls Out 17MW Floating Wind Turbine Prototype

SBM Offshore’s Jaguar FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore (Video)

EnQuest Picks Up Offshore Oil and Gas Block in Brunei

CNOOC Finds Oil and Gas in South China Sea

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com