Community Relations
In 2022, PSA continued to champion initiatives to improve the lives and enhance the social fabric of communities where we have a presence.
LENDING A HELPING HAND
The easing of COVID-19 measures in Singapore allowed our pool of over 600 Health@Home (H@H) volunteers to resume physical volunteering at our beneficiaries, including St Luke’s ElderCare, HCA Hospice Care, National University Health System and Lions Befrienders. Launched in 2015, the H@H program encourages a spirit of volunteerism among PSA’s Singapore-based staff.
To multiply its outreach efforts, PSA Singapore, together with Ocean Network Express, PSA Marine and CrimsonLogic, participated for the first time in the national campaign ‘22 Days of Doing Good’. Volunteers accompanied 50 seniors from Lions Befrienders on a sponsored trip to NTUC Warehouse Club, a hypermarket where they purchased groceries and household essentials.
After a two-year hiatus, PSA Singapore’s Charity Fair returned as staff gathered for a fun-filled day of food, games and shopping. A total of SGD38,000 was raised for children and youth from The Haven, a residential home run by The Salvation Army.
PSA also contributed SGD10,000 towards ONERHT Foundation’s charity golf event to raise funds for disadvantaged groups.
It was a meaningful tribute when PSA Singapore was recognised as a ‘Champion of Good’ by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre, for being an exemplary leader in advocating a culture of giving amongst employees, and multiplying corporate giving to catalyse social change.
In Thailand, Eastern Sea Laem Chabang Terminal (ESCO) donated to help local residents and staff members in Lad Krabang who were affected by floods.
PSA Korea presented a KRW13 million (SGD13,000) donation to the Korean Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer (KACLC). The company and its staff have raised funds to support the children and families under KACLC since 2017, including online fundraising for two years during the pandemic.
Guangzhou Container Terminal staff volunteered their time to provide support to Guangzhou residents locked down during the pandemic.
Over in India, our business units supported less fortunate children by raising over Rs 1.08 crore (SGD173,000) to sponsor the Akshaya Patra Foundation’s mid-day meal program, which served 5,333 meals to public schools across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
PSA Honeycomb supported the construction of two wards in Mother Cares Trust Hospital and collaborated with Arpan Thalassemia Society to conduct health screening for Thalassemia Minor.
PSA Ameya provided financial assistance to upgrade two local Madhayamik schools and subsidise education fees for 100 beneficiaries under Project Anando, by Light of Life Trust; while PSA Chennai donated stationery kits for 1,318 students and funded the construction of a bicycle shed for a public school. Over in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Global Ports (SGP) donated 100 school bags and supplies to families under the Fatat Al Khaleej Charity.
In June, PSA’s Europe, Mediterranean & the Americas (EMA) region held Moving for Charity 2022, where teams representing different terminals ran, swam and cycled to raise funds for local charities that support children and families in precarious situations. The participants raised EUR30,000 (SGD43,000) by covering a record distance of 61,247 kilometres – 6,600 kilometres more than last year!
PSA Belgium employees also took part in the famous ‘Antwerp 10 Miles’ running event to raise funds for Antwerp City Pirates, a social soccer project that seeks to give youth a more stable future. In total, PSA Antwerp donated more than EUR30,000 (SGD43,000) to Antwerp City Pirates in 2022.
MSC PSA European Terminal collected and recycled more than 23 tonnes of scrap metal at its terminals to raise EUR6,300 (SGD9,000) for Merlijn vzw, a Belgian non-profit organisation that supports young children with special needs.
To help those affected by the Russian/Ukrainian war, Baltic Hub in Poland provided computers as well as helped equip the kitchen of a local youth centre that is sheltering war orphans. The terminal also contributed funds to UNICEF, the Polish Red Cross and the Association of Children Villages which provides aid to abandoned children and foster families in Ukraine.
During the year, Mersin International Port (MIP) in Türkiye distributed EUR25,500 (SGD36,500) worth of shopping cards to the underprivileged in Mersin’s Akdeniz district during Ramadan; while PSA Sines in Portugal donated 450 food and care hampers to local associations helping the needy.
In September 2022, 65 PSA Panama colleagues and family members ran over 600 kilometres during the annual ‘Relevo Por la Vida’ (Race for Life), a popular 24-hour race to support the Foundation for Friends of a Child with Leukemia or Cancer (FANLYC). 2022 marks the seventh year that PSA Panama has participated in this event.
Over in Canada, PSA Halifax was key sponsor of an annual breakfast fundraiser organised by Brunswick Street Mission, a local organisation which offers programs to assist the less fortunate in the Halifax neighbourhoods.
On Remembrance Day on 11 November 2022, Ashcroft Terminal hosted ‘Soups On’, a community program which creates opportunity for people to interact and share a meal.
Separately, supporting our partner Crowley with their ‘Wreaths Across America’ initiative which commemorates fallen US soldiers across history, PSA Penn Terminals donated funds to place 167 wreaths at the Philadelphia National Cemetery on 17 December 2022.
2022 marked the 10-year anniversary of BDP Cares – PSA BDP’s corporate social responsibility program. The company celebrated a decade of giving back to local communities through various initiatives including area clean-ups, volunteering and food drives. During the year, BDP Cares also raised USD63,415 (SGD85,000) towards relief efforts by the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as for colleagues and family members impacted by the crisis in Ukraine.
SUPPORTING LEARNING AND EDUCATION
PSA Singapore continued to provide financial assistance for students from lower income families to further their education through the Howe Yoon Chong (HYC) PSA scholarship program. In 2022, 42 scholarships were awarded, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 344 since the scholarship’s inception in 2008.
To encourage discourse across industries, PSA supported the Singapore Business Federation with a SGD100,000 sponsorship towards its inaugural Singapore Apex Business Summit (SABS). SABS brought together international participants and speakers to network and dialogue on economic development and topical business trends including sustainability, digitalisation and collaboration.
PSA also provided a SGD20,000 sponsorship towards the annual Singapore Perspectives conference, organised by the Institute of Policy Studies. Held in January 2023, the conference was attended by public, private and civic sector leaders, and examined how disruptions and trends in technology, socio-economic and demographical developments would shape the future of work in Singapore.
In Indonesia, New Priok Container Terminal 1 supported the Kejar Paket B Program which provided tuition to 30 underprivileged children in the Kalibaru area, to prepare them for Junior High School diploma examinations.
Over in Santo André city in Portugal, PSA Sines sponsored four gardens in primary schools to enable more than 600 students to learn about seasonal gardening. The produce from the gardens was also used in their local canteens.
In Peru, PSA Marine donated 70 tablet computers to children at the Don Bosco Foundation of Lima (DBFL), a religious institution in Peru’s vulnerable Puerto Nuevo community. The donation would alleviate learning and development challenges by enabling children from underprivileged families to access virtual classes and workshops.
PSA Marine also awarded 20 Employability Scholarships to seamen at San Juan de Marcona Port through the Fishermen’s Artisanal Association. With the scholarships, fishermen in the area can acquire specialised training for future job opportunities with PSAM Peru. To date, 30 fishermen have been certified under the program.
BUILDING STRONGER, SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
The 24th edition of PSA Singapore’s ‘Golf Invitational’ event in July received almost 100 participants, including guests from government ministries, corporations and shipping lines. The event raised SGD50,000 for the ‘Plant-A-Coral, Seed-A-Reef’ Program under Singapore’s National Parks Board’s Garden City Fund, which would enable the planting of 250 corals.
A collaborative effort by PSA Singapore and the Southwest Community Development Council in the ‘Recycle for a Good Cause’ program, resulted in the collection of some 1.1 tonnes of clothes and paper products. These were exchanged for 175kg of rice and 150 packets of instant noodles, which were donated to The Food Bank to help the underprivileged.
PSA Marine and PSA Singapore also initiated a vegetable donation drive, where 120kg – or 200 packs – of vegetables from PSA Marine’s sustainable hydroponics rooftop farm, Gerické, were harvested and donated to the elderly at St Luke’s ElderCare centres in Telok Blangah and Ayer Rajah.
In collaboration with the Port Authority of Thailand, LCB Container Terminal 1 donated THB100,000 (SGD4,000) to support the Banlamung Home for the Boys, construction of a COVID-19 patient waiting area at Sapan Temple, and walkway improvements at the Baan Laem Chabang Nature Trail; while ESCO donated medical equipment to Bo Kluea Hospital in Nan Province.
SGP provided the Sanad Children’s Cancer Support Association with a SAR20,000 (SGD7,300) donation for social services programs and scientific research grants. Separately, the company supported the ‘Made in Saudi’ initiative by sponsoring booth spaces for 10 local businesses to promote their goods and services at the Khobar Half Marathon Festival.
In February 2022, Baltic Hub executed a grant of EUR45,000 (SGD64,400) which was distributed to seven local organisations including schools, sports clubs and social welfare organisations, to further their individual social projects.
PATRON OF THE ARTS AND CULTURE
In 2022, PSA donated six Bo-men sculptures to Singapore’s Land Transport Authority’s ‘Gift of Art’ program to add vibrancy around Singapore’s MRT stations. Commissioned from Belgian artist Daisy Boman, three of the sculptures were unveiled at the upcoming Shenton Way MRT station by Minister of Transport S Iswaran on 1 November.
PSA contributed SGD125,000 towards the production of The LKY Musical which ran in September 2022. The home-grown musical tells the story of Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, from his student days in 1941 to Singapore’s independence in 1965.
In addition, we provided sponsorships of SGD20,000 to the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and SGD10,000 to theatre company Wild Rice, to support the local performing arts scene and nurture future generations of artistes and audiences.
MIP sponsored EUR50,000 (SGD71,500) towards a concert at the Çamlıbel Street Festival, which attracted some 7,300 attendees. MIP also supported the production of a documentary about Uray Street, a historical landmark in Mersin.
Baltic Hub, in collaboration with the Port of Gdańsk Authority, set up a beach cinema and organised Movie Fridays for their staff and the local residents on Stogi Beach, which is located near the port.
Ashcroft Terminal organised a lunch-and-learn session for staff to commemorate Canada’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The event featured traditional First Nation meals as well as sharing stories and active discussions on topics related to First Nations peoples.
