A homegrown premier shipyard group, PaxOcean, which apparently is a part of Kuok Maritime Group – KMG opened a new S$200 million shipyard at 5 Jalan Samulun – 5JS on February 06, 2026. Notably, the 5JS opening marks quite a prominent investment by the Group and is also a landmark that, in a way, reinforces the position of Singapore as a leading global hub when it comes to maritime engineering, innovation along with sustainability.
Mr. Murali Pillai, the Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Law and the Ministry of Transport, officiated the opening ceremony.
The new PaxOcean shipyard worth S$200mn, which is located in the Jurong Industrial Estate, covers around 17.26 hectares and also has in it two large graving docks, one floating dock, expanded quayside capacity, and also dedicated & integrated workshops so as to support very intricate and high-value maritime and offshore assets.
It is well to be noted that the construction took two years and was jointly supported by JTC Corporation – JTC and Singapore Economic Development Board – EDB.
Interestingly, 5JS is a replacement of the previous location at 33 Tuas Crescent of PaxOcean. The new yard goes on to occupy quite a significantly larger footprint, thereby giving PaxOcean the capacity to handle more complex projects with even much faster turnaround. Local as well as international customers can also get benefited out of the customized engineering solutions from PaxOcean when it comes to repairs and upgrades, and also new building along with conversion projects.
Put together, the yard has it all to strengthen newbuilding, fabrication, and conversion as well as repair capabilities of Singapore.
Apart from this, PaxOcean has also gone on to commit over S$3.5 million when it comes to R&D investments for the next three years, all of which is supported by the Research & Innovation Scheme for Companies from EDB.
One of the key investments is going to be the new Centre of Excellence – COE from PaxOcean in Engineering R&D. The COE is sure to make the capabilities in carbon capture, along with utilization and storage, systems integration, simulation, and digital twin applications, stronger and is also going to support the creation of 12 high-skilled engineering as well as research roles.
5JS, which apparently is a first for a shipyard in Singapore, happens to be home to a purpose-built Innovation Hub@5JS – iHub5 which is a KMG-led initiative. Having been designed as a collaborative platform, iHub5 goes on to bring together experts from the maritime industry and technology partners, along with next-generation talent, all under one roof in order to speed up the development when it comes to practical maritime solutions for KMG.
This also goes on to make the new shipyard a very convenient platform in terms of test-bedding solutions, with support coming from COE and iHub5 in order to advance the capabilities of Singapore in terms of developing, testing, and also rolling out next-generation maritime solutions.
The new PaxOcean shipyard, which apparently supports the decarbonization efforts of the maritime industry and also, with it, the net-zero ambitions of Singapore, has been made with sustainability at its very core. It has in it energy-efficient infrastructure and also greener operations under a phased roadmap, which also includes smart energy and logistics systems, electrification initiatives, and adoption of green solutions like renewable energy and biofuels, as well as carbon capture. Besides this, 5JS comes powered by large-scale photovoltaic panels and with it an energy-efficient ACMV, which is the air conditioning and mechanical ventilation system, in order to optimize climate control and at the same time make sure to keep the energy consumption at a bare minimum. Interestingly, as of today, the new shipyard has gone on to attain the BCA Green Mark Platinum Super Low Energy certification, which is provisional in nature, and has been recognized with the Whole Life Carbon badge. This kind of accreditation strengthens the sustainable shipbuilding and repair capabilities of Singapore and positions the 5JS as one of the attractive platforms when it comes to customers who are looking for maritime solutions that are environmentally responsible.
The Managing Director and CEO of PaxOcean, Tan Thai Yong, said: “Our investment in 5JS reflects our long-term commitment to further strengthening Singapore’s position as a world-leading global maritime and offshore hub. It also marks an important moment when we articulate who we are as PaxOcean – Driven by Passion. Built on Excellence. This reflects the standards we bring to every project, underpinned by innovation, sustainability, and disciplined execution, as we build a future-ready business and set new benchmarks for the industry in Singapore and across our four other strategic locations in the region. None of this would be possible without our skilled and loyal workforce, who have embraced the move and are ready to welcome more partners to our state-of-the-art facility proudly.”
It is worth noting that 5JS is one of the five PaxOcean shipyards that operate across three countries, namely, Singapore, China, and Indonesia; it has a Maintenance, Repair, and Operations – MRO facility that is at present under construction in Saudi Arabia. The new facility at 5JS goes on to replace Tuas Yard from PaxOcean. Founded in 2007, PaxOcean is positioned strategically in order to deliver tailor-made engineering solutions with efficiency, agility, and immense dependability to customers across the world. In addition to infrastructure and technology, PaxOcean remains pretty deeply committed so as to nurture the maritime talent pipeline of Singapore. Talk of the long term, and PaxOcean looks forward to building industry confidence and also positions Singapore as a key global center of excellence as far as sustainable maritime engineering is concerned.
