Singapore Cruise Center revolutionizes the passenger experience with SITA's Digital Travel solutions

As Singapore establishes itself as a premier maritime hub, SITA, the global leader in travel and transport technology, has signed a deal with Singapore Cruise Center (SCC) to help revolutionize the passenger experience at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal (TMFT) and HarbourFront Ferry Terminal (HFFT). As part of this project SITA will deliver its advanced technology solutions, Smart Path hardware and Flex as a Service, to SCC. 

SITA's Smart Path technology, including biometric-ready kiosks, self-bag drop, and gates, will modernize the passenger experience at TMFT and HFFT. SCC is also adopting SITA's Flex as a Service across all passenger processing touchpoints, which enables agile and responsive passenger processing, and creates a platform for SCC to build custom passenger-facing applications. The upgraded ferry terminals, which serve as Singapore's gateway to the Riau Islands and south-eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia, are expected to handle about 7 million plus passengers annually.  

Sumesh Patel, President of Asia Pacific at SITA, said: "Seamless travel, by air, sea, or land will be one of the drivers of growth for the travel and transport industry, with transport hubs seeing a need to quickly digitalize their infrastructure to remain ahead of the curve. At SITA, we help these transport hubs do just that through our innovative solutions. Singapore Cruise Centre is a clear example of this, as it shows how technology can make passenger processing more efficient, secure, and enjoyable.” 

The project involves the installation of 45 SITA Smart Path Kiosks across both terminals, also providing a platform for biometric authentication implementation in the future as part of OneID initiative. 10 SITA Smart Path Bag Drop solutions will streamline the bag check-in process with SITA’s cutting-edge TS6 Kiosks, and 13 new SITA Smart Path Gates will be used for efficient boarding procedures.  

SCC will integrate its new cloud-based Departure Control System (Cruise and Ferry Operation System) via SITA Flex. This project will significantly improve passenger processing capabilities and unlock future possibilities for the maritime passenger industry.  

Lee Siew Kit, Vice President of Technology and IT at SCC, said: “We are happy to partner with SITA to bring aviation technologies to the maritime passenger industry so that we can provide similar seamless and future contactless experiences for our ferry, fly-ferry and fly-cruise passengers. The new technology will help the eco system streamline processes, and scale to handle more passengers through our terminals in the future.” 

Julian Panter, CEO of SmartSea, added: "The maritime sector is currently around a decade behind the air transport industry in terms of digitalization of its terminal and passenger processing infrastructure. This partnership with Singapore Cruise Center is an important step for digitalizing the maritime industry, helping it to reach new levels of technology in passenger processing. At SmartSea, a SITA company, we're embarking on a journey to bring the same technological innovation that revolutionized air travel to the maritime world.”