Singapore contains oil spill from collision

MPA said that “good progress” has been made in containing and cleaning up approximately 100 metric tonnes of spilled fuel oil resulting from the collision between a South Korean-registered bulk carrier Oriental Pioneer and a Bahamas-registered bulk carrier Atlantic Hero on Tuesday.

“There has been no further spillage of fuel oil from Oriental Pioneer. As a precautionary measure, an oil boom and and oil spill response craft have been deployed around the vessel. Bio-degradable oil dispersants were used to break up the oil slick in the waters,” MPA said, adding that no significant patches of oil were sighted in the waters.

In total, 11 craft and some 100 personnel from MPA and oil spill response companies have been deployed as part of the containment and clean up efforts. A helicopter was also deployed to conduct aerial surveillance of the affected waters.

MPA said vessel traffic in the Strait of Singapore and port waters remain unaffected, and port operations are continuing as per normal.

The local authorities are also investigating the cause of the collision.