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jedemdasseine
25th May 2010, 04:07 AM
Relatively small, but a new trend?




Collision causes oil spill in Singapore Strait

SINGAPORE: Emergency teams scrambled to contain some 2,000 tonnes of crude oil that leaked Tuesday into the Singapore Strait after two vessels collided in the busy waterway, port officials said.

Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said the Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 had collided with the MV Waily, a bulk carrier registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines, damaging a cargo tank on the Malaysian vessel.

Four patrol and emergency response vessels and three private craft equipped with oil-spill equipment had been sent to the area, it said, adding: “Work is ongoing to contain and clean up the oil spill.”

Nobody was injured and shipping traffic was not affected by the incident, which took place 13 kilometres (eight miles) off Singapore shortly before dawn, the MPA said. Both vessels were at anchor after the incident and neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia had been kept informed.

Malaysia's Maritime Enforcement Agency told AFP the collision had torn a 10-metre (33-foot) gash in the tanker's port side.

The tanker's operators, Malaysia-based AET, said in a statement: “Oil booms are being placed around the leaked cargo to contain the spill.”

It said the ship had been “hit by the bow of the other vessel as Bunga Kelana 3 was travelling from east to west in the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Singapore Strait.”

The TSS is a commercial channel running along the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

Salvage operators interviewed by AFP said the spill could potentially be damaging for the environment but the authorities' swift response would significantly lessen the impact.

“I think it can be controlled. 2,000 tons will not do as much damage if the teams are already there,” a salvage operator who did not want to be named said. -AFP
Link to Article (http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/30-collision-causes-oil-spill-in-singapore-strait-so-01)


EDIT: Changed long link to named link to prevent horizontal scrolling. -Gaillo

MNeagle
29th May 2010, 09:19 AM
Tanker collision spills oil onto Singapore wetlands

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/28/c1main.sing.spill.afp.gi.jpg

Louisiana isn’t the only place dealing with oil on its beaches and in its wetlands this weekend.

Singapore parks officials said Friday that oil spilled in the collision of a tanker with another ship on Tuesday had washed into the country’s Chek Jawa wetlands, according to a report in the Straits Times newspaper.

The wetlands are “home to unique ecosystems and the last refuge of several plants and animals once common in the country,” the Straits Times reported.

The oil washing ashore also forced the closing of a stretch of Changi Beach, according to the paper’s report.

Meanwhile, The Star newspaper in nearby Malaysia said the authorities had been unable to contain the spill and it was now threatening Malaysian beaches at Tanjung Ayam, north of Singapore on the Malay Peninsula.

“We are doing our best to prevent the slick from reaching the beach area with the cooperation of the Southern Region Marine Department. We are installing booms at the affected area,” Zulkifli Abdul Rahman, director of the Johor Department of Environment was quoted as saying.

The spill of about 2,000 metric tons of crude oil occurred early Tuesday morning when a Malaysian-registered tanker collided with a bulk carrier registered from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, authorities said.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/28/tanker-collision-spills-oil-onto-sinagpore-wetlands/