Following the collapse of oil prices and the shutdown of production activities that hit the offshore and marine industry badly, Sembcorp Marine CEO Wong Weng Sun has volunteered to take a 50 percent pay cut as part of cost reduction measures. Other members of management will be taking a 10-15 percent cut, and employees earning above S$1,800 (US$1,295) per month will take a 5 percent cut.

The offshore engineering firm had been struggling even before COVID-19, having posted increasing financial losses and job cuts for several years in a row. When the pandemic hit, demand for its services plunged still further, and when Singapore announced movement restriction measures in April, Sembcorp Marine had to reduce its operating yard workforce from 20,000 to 850, essentially forcing it to halt all projects for almost three months in a row. Now, the July 15 announcement of the firm's financial results show that Sembcorp Marine made a loss of S$192 million (US$138 million) in the first half of 2020. Last year, it made a loss of S$7 million (US$5 million) during the same period.

In his speech accompanying the announcement, Wong said that Sembcorp Marine is pursuing "right-sizing" of its workforce "in tandem with work activities and project load", but did not specify details. However, during one major slump between 2015 and 2016, the firm laid off 8,000 workers comprising mainly sub-contractors. Sembcorp Marine has 10,741 permanent and contract employees globally, mostly based in Singapore.