4 crewmen on dredger plead guilty over role in major oil spill

They failed to discharge their duties properly, which led to Vox Maxima hitting bunker vessel

- Samuel Devaraj

Four Dutch crew members on a Netherlands-flagged dredger Vox Maxima, which hit another vessel at Pasir Panjang Terminal in June 2024, have admitted to failing to discharge their duties properly.

The incident caused serious damage to a bunker vessel – the Singapore-flagged Marine Honour – and led to the worst oil spill in Singapore in 10 years.

On March 12, Richard Ouwehand, 49, Martin Hans Sinke, 48, Eric Peijpers, 56, and Merijn Heidema, 26, pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 for their role in the oil spill.

The oil spill spread to the coastlines of East Coast Park, Labrador Nature Reserve, Sentosa, the Southern Islands and even to the Johor coastline in Kota Tinggi.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Regina Lim told the court on March 12 that clean-up operations took more than two months, and that the full extent of the oil spill's impact on the coastal and marine environment is still being assessed.

Marine Honour is still undergoing repairs for the damage, and the cost of repairs is estimated to exceed $6.6 million, the prosecutor added.

During the incident, Ouwehand was Vox Maxima's master, while Sinke was the vessel's chief officer and in charge of its navigational watch.

Peijpers, a second engineer, and Heidema, a third engineer, were the officers in charge of the engineering watch at the time.