Just like any other industry, Singapore’s logistics sector has been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Challenges that the industry faces includes a huge reduction in airfreight capacity, a shortage of workers due to border lockdowns, and reduced efficiency due to social distancing measures.

Said effects has been somewhat uneven across the industry however. Areas such as aviation and aerospace has seen a severe drop in business activity. On the other hand, areas such as e-commerce, last-mile fulfilment services, and healthcare logistics have all seen a huge surge in demand.

As such, more than, 2,100 job, attachment and training opportunities in the logistics sector were made available under the SGUnited jobs and skills programme between April and September, with the majority of them in non-professional roles, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

About 63 percent, or 1,340, of the 2,100 opportunities in the logistics sector were for job openings, said MOM in its report.

Professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMET) roles accounted for about 36 percent or 480 of the jobs available, with the remaining 64 per cent or 860 jobs for non-PMET positions such as freight coordinators and material handlers.

The majority of the opportunities available are for non-PMET roles, as the industry currently requires many more workers to carry out warehousing, transportation, labelling, and packaging duties.

Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing said that Singapore is in a prime position to distinguish itself as a logistic hub amidst the pandemic as well as the current geopolitical situation.

“People are all very concerned with the potential disruptions to their global supply chains. That is why a lot of these businesses are coming through Singapore, because they understand that we have a network that is much more resilient than many other countries,” Mr Chan said during a virtual press conference on his visit to a DB Schenker warehouse.

“If we continue to preserve our competitiveness in this area, we will continue to grow this sector, especially for the sectors that rely a lot on the timeliness of their products, and these are mainly in the high-value products – biomedical products, the ICT sectors, and so forth,” he added.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry said the large logistics companies in Singapore are planning to create 1,500 new jobs in the logistics sector over the next five years.

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