Singapore shipping firm PIL cuts staff amid automation drive

Home-grown shipping company Pacific International Lines (PIL) on Nov 13 laid off an undisclosed number of workers in Singapore amid a push for greater automation within the firm.

- Timothy Goh

The restructuring impacted resource requirements at PIL's shipping agencies globally. As such, a relatively small percentage of the total workforce in Singapore was affected, a PIL spokesman told The Straits Times on Nov 15.

The spokesman did not specify how many workers or which roles were affected.

There will also be no impact to business activities at the shipping line's Singapore head office.

PIL is working with its union, the Supply Chain Employees' Union Singapore (SCEU), to support the laid-off workers, the spokesman said. The SCEU is an affiliate of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).

He noted that affected employees are being offered "enhanced" packages, including out-placement services, training grants, extended medical coverage and a projected bonus payout for 2025.

The lay-offs took place amid a move by PIL to adopt artificial intelligence-driven technologies to boost its efficiency and global competitiveness, for which it had also added more than 30 per cent to its Singapore workforce.