MPA responded within 11 mins of being alerted to oil spill: Minister

Dredging boat was being guided by PSA Marine when incident at terminal occurred

- Esther Loi

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.