Singapore leases cargo vessel to support navy's training requirements

MV Mentor, seen here as it arrives at Changi Naval Base in May 2024. (Singapore MINDEF)

Singapore has leased MV Mentor, a 193 m cargo vessel, to support its navy's training requirements.

The vessel has been leased on a commercially owned and commercially operated arrangement, said a Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) spokesperson in a 21 May email response to questions from Janes .

It will support the Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN's) NSman training requirements, reads the reply in reference to its pool of military reservists. MV Mentor will also be involved in selected maritime exercises and operations, it added.

MINDEF has not given further details of the vessel, which will replace MV Avatar – an older general cargo vessel that was also re-purposed for training operations.

However, open-source information indicates that the MV Mentor was built in 2003 as a roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) cargo ship by German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft.

It displaces about 23,000 tonnes and has three cargo decks accessible via a starboard ramp and an aft ramp. Powered by two MaK 9M43 engines, MV Mentor can attain a top speed of about 21 kt and an average cruising speed of about 14 kt.

Publicly available data also indicate that MV Mentor is owned by Singapore bunker craft operator Hong Lam Marine, and the company will be operating and maintaining the training vessel throughout its tenure with the RSN.

For more information on the RSN, please seeSingapore – Navy .