ASEAN HEADLINE | MPA responded within 11 minutes of being alerted to oil spill, cleanup to take time: Chee Hong Tat

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SINGAPORE – Singapore’s port authorities responded within 11 minutes of being alerted to an incident between a dredging boat and a bunker vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal on June 14 that resulted in an oil spill, which has spread to various parts of the city-state’s waters.

At 2.18pm that day, the Netherlands-flagged dredging boat Vox Maxima suffered a sudden loss of engine and steering controls and hit the stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel Marine Honour, rupturing one of its oil tanks.

Setting out a timeline of the authorities’ response for the first time, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said in a Facebook post on June 18 that the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was alerted at 2.22pm to the incident.

By 2.33pm, MPA responded to the incident to ensure that there were no further leaks from the bunker vessel, which still had 400 tonnes of oil remaining in its tank, Mr Chee wrote on June 18. The other half had leaked into the sea instantly.

MPA sprayed dispersants to treat the oil that already flowed into the sea, which Mr Chee said was important to prevent the oil from hardening, to make subsequent cleanup operations at sea and on land easier. He added that MPA’s contractor deployed oil booms around the damaged vessel to reduce the spread of the spill.

Mr Chee said it would take time for MPA to progressively clean up the spill and complete investigations in full.

“We seek the understanding of members of the public and businesses (that) are affected by this incident,” he said. “We will do our best to complete the cleanup as soon as possible.”

Mr Chee said: “MPA will continue to work with the relevant government agencies, industry partners, volunteers, and the maritime and port authorities of neighbouring countries to monitor the situation closely and take the necessary actions.”

The Vox Maxima was under pilotage by marine services provider PSA Marine at the time of the incident. Foreign-flagged vessels typically hire local qualified harbour pilots to guide them in and out of ports.

A spokesperson for PSA Marine told The Straits Times that one of its harbour pilots was on board Vox Maxima to provide navigational advice, but was not steering the vessel at the time of the incident.

A day after the incident, the oil spill had spread beyond the area near Pasir Panjang Terminal to the coastlines of East Coast Park, Labrador Nature Reserve, Keppel Bay, the Southern Islands and Sentosa. It extended to waters off Changi on June 17.

The MPA then set up containment booms in these areas and deployed equipment to lift and sieve oil off the water surface.

A large section of the beachfront at East Coast Park and parts of the Labrador Nature Reserve have been closed from June 15. Likewise, the beaches at St John’s, Lazarus, and Kusu Islands have been closed from June 16. The beaches in Sentosa remain open, but water activities and swimming are not allowed.

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As a pre-emptive measure, MPA also placed oil-absorbent booms in biodiversity-sensitive areas at the Chek Jawa Wetlands in Pulau Ubin, Coney Island Park and Pasir Ris Park on June 17.

In the coming days, the authority will also be deploying additional oil booms, spanning more than 1,600m, on top of the current ones that cover a distance of 1,500m. It will also be using three Current Buster systems which locate and sieve oil from seawater, up from the current two.

Mr Chee said the June 14 incident was not due to congestion in Singapore’s port waters and anchorages, in response to some questions from members of the public.

“Our port waters and anchorages are not congested,” he said.

He added that the earlier reports on delays experienced by container vessels were a separate matter caused by the bunching of container vessels arriving at PSA.

Earlier in May, container vessels arriving in Singapore experienced a “vessel bunching effect” due to their off-schedule arrivals caused by supply chain disruptions in upstream locations.

The average waiting time for a berth for container vessels could take two or three days.

In response, port operator PSA Singapore reactivated older berths and yards at Keppel Terminal to increase the number of containers it can handle.

One of the worst oil spills that took place in Singapore’s waters happened in 1997 when two tankers collided, resulting in almost 29,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil escaping into the ocean.

MPA, the Ministry of the Environment, Singapore Civil Defence Force and Singapore Armed Forces had to carry out recovery efforts to deal with the large oil spill, which spread to mangrove forests and coral reefs near Raffles Lighthouse, and waters in the west of Singapore.

The cleanup costs amounted to US$3.2 million (S$4.3 million), according to MPA.

The last time a ship lost control in Singapore’s waters was in May 2002, when a Dutch-registered dredger Seaway came into contact with an oil pipeline at Shell Bukom. This led to substantial damage to the berth at Shell Bukom, but no injuries were reported.

Esther Loi