New site will boost the company's expansion plans and the region's maritime industry.

Leading Swedish manufacturer of controllable pitch propellers (CPP) for the marine industry, Berg Propulsion has established its new production facility in Singapore. It is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, and the first outside Sweden for the company.

Located in Tuas, the new 10,000 sq m plant will serve to reinforce Berg's expansion plans to meet growing global demand, while reinforcing its position as one of the leading CPP manufacturers internationally.


(L-R) Aloysius Hendricks, CEO, Berg Propulsion; His Excellency Pär Ahlberger, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Singapore; Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry and Chairman, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore; and Bjorn Svensson, Chairman, Berg Propulsion.

"Since 2006 we have embarked on an expansion plan to meet increasing demands from our customers for timely delivery of propulsion equipment. This new facility will allow us to more than double our output," says Aloysius Hendricks, CEO, Berg Propulsion, emphasising the significance of the company's investment.

Berg's expansion plans include investments of up to S$65.1 million (US$47.5 million) over the next five years. This includes state-of-the-art precision manufacturing equipment to ensure consistently high quality products.

Partners in synergy

To meet the company's goals, the location of Berg's Asian hub is key. Singapore was the ideal choice for a range of reasons which complemented the company's direction.
"Singapore was chosen for its conducive and stable business environment, readily available talent pool, the nation's easy accessibility and proximity to Asia's growing marine industry, and the quality reputation associated with Singapore."

– Aloysius Hendricks, CEO, Berg Propulsion
Says Hendricks, "Berg has grown tremendously in the last few years in its reputation due to quality, reliability and the performance of its product and people. To ensure that we maintain this, Singapore was chosen for its conducive and stable business environment, readily available talent pool, the nation's easy accessibility and proximity to Asia's growing marine industry, and the quality reputation associated with Singapore."

Berg's new facility will make it possible to manufacture all types of propulsion systems, from larger main units to rotatable thrusters. These include CPPs, tunnel thrusters and steerable propellers. CPP systems for marine propulsion systems are designed to give the highest propulsive efficiency for any speed and load condition. It also improves manoeuvrability of a vessel and can be used on most types of ships.

The opening ceremony of Berg Propulsion's facility.

Established history

Berg was started by Johan Wiktor Berg in 1912 as a small shipyard at Hälsö on the Swedish west coast. Later, the shipyard specialised in building new wooden fishing vessels as well as ship repairs. In 1929, the first CPP was manufactured for a wooden fishing vessel and production eventually became so extensive that a special propeller factory was built on the neighbouring island of Öckerö. Since then, the company has built over 5,000 CPPs, many still in use today.

The new production facility is not the company's first foray into Singapore. Since January 2007, its sales and marketing arm in Singapore, Berg Propulsion International, has operated as the company's sales and marketing global HQ. With offices in Shanghai, Dubai, Istanbul, Europe and now its new Asian hub in Singapore, Berg continues to bring its customer and after-sales support closer to its customers.

Growth of maritime industry

For Singapore, Berg's new facility affirms the significance of the Republic's marine and offshore industry. Singapore is the biggest ship repair nation in the world, the largest manufacturer of offshore oil rigs, with 70 per cent market share, and has global leadership in the conversion of tankers to Floating Production Storage and Offloading platforms (FPSO).

In 2006, the marine and offshore industry hit an output of S$9.8 billion (US$7.2 million), a substantial 40 per cent growth over the previous year. The global demand for ship repair, FPSO conversions and offshore deepwater platforms remains robust, and shipyards and companies in Singapore are reporting strong order books and a high level of activity.

"We aspire to be an integrated marine hub, comprising world class shipyards, companies offering complex marine systems and components and marine-related services." - Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Chairman, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore

"We aspire to be an integrated marine hub, comprising world class shipyards, companies offering complex marine systems and components and marine-related services," says Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Industry, and Chairman, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. "Companies here engage in a wide range of activities, such as manufacturing, headquarter services, training, research and development, engineering, regional distribution and more. Berg's presence in Singapore is an important contribution to our integrated marine hub."

Looking into the future, the emphasis is on more knowledge-, capital- and innovation-intensive activities, all of which call for well-trained and educated human resources. To that end, Singapore's educational institutions play a key role in developing people for the industry. The National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University have final year specialisations and Master's degree courses in Marine & Offshore Engineering, while Ngee Ann and Singapore Polytechnics are tying up with University of Newcastle Upon Tyne to roll out a degree programme in naval architecture and marine/ocean engineering by this September.

"What this means is that Berg Propulsion, and the marine industry, can look forward to a steady stream of skilled and knowledgeable graduates from these programmes," says Ong. "Also, Singapore adopts an open immigration policy to enable a foreign talent pool to augment our local human resources, thus providing a cosmopolitan workforce that will give companies based here a competitive edge when entering into other markets in the region."

With this in view, Berg Propulsion's goal to carve a prime share of the Asian maritime market looks to be right on track.