Singapore still battles oil slick after tanker, cargo ship collision

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 May 2010

Singapore continued Saturday to grapple with an oil slick spreading to its shores after an oil tanker collided with a bulk carrier off the eastern coast of the island near the Strait of Malacca, Asia's busiest sealane. A large-scale cleanup effort was launched by Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority soon after the 57,017-ton tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 and the 15,272-ton bulk carrier MV Waily collided Tuesday about 13 kilometers off Singapore, resulting in more than 2,500 tons of crude oil leaking into the sea.
So far the oil slick has spread to some Singapore shores, staining some of its beaches and forcing authorities to close several popular beaches to the public.
The oil slick has also threatened a marine nature reserve on the coast of a small offshore island and has been seen in Malaysian waters.
Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, said the oil slick has wiped out almost all the inter-tidal species at the affected beaches.
He added volunteers have so far rescued more than 200 small marine animals covered with oil, including hermit crabs and starfish, but many others perished.
The MPA has deployed 25 specialized boats and nearly 200 personnel to contain and disperse the oil slick.
The MPA added the spill has not affected shipping in the Singapore Strait as it has not been in the shipping lanes so far.
The worst oil spill Singapore's history was in 1997 when two oil tankers collided and spilled more than 10 times as much crude oil as has leaked out in this incident.

Source: Kyodo News International