Oil spill off Changi East: Malaysian reports

Oil on tanker to be removed
Jassmine Shadiqe and Koi Kye Lee New Straits Times 26 May 10;

JOHOR BARU: Work is under way to transfer the remaining Bintulu light grade oil from Malaysian tanker Bunga Kelana 3, which was struck by a bulk carrier off the Singapore Strait on Tuesday, onto another vessel.

Once this is done, an assessment on the ship's underwater damage would be carried out, MT Bunga Kelana 3 owner AET Tanker Holdings Sdn Bhd said.

The tanker is currently anchored off Changi East in the Strait of Singapore and will move to another place after the assessment is completed.

MT Bunga Kelana 3 collided with bulk carrier MV Waily while travelling from east to west in the Traffic Separation Scheme of the Singapore Strait, 13km southeast of Changi East, at 6.03am on Tuesday.

The collision caused significant damage to the vessel's hull and resulted in a crude oil spill that is now being cleaned up by specialists in 15 boats, using 50 tonnes of dispersant and 4,000m of boom.

Cleaning efforts resumed yesterday morning with an additional 100 men deployed along the shoreline in case the spill reached the Singapore coast, AET said.


AET is also cooperating fully with the Malaysian authorities, including the Johor Department of Environment and Marine Department, who are heading the operations.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Environment, Safety and Employee Health director Associate Professor Maketab Mohamed said the oil spill would not have a massive impact on marine life as the Bintulu light grade crude oil had low petroleum poison levels.

In Kuala Lumpur, Department of Environment director-general Datuk Rosnani Ibrahim said the department, together with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Police Air Wing, conducted aerial surveillance of ground and coastal areas immediately after the collision.


So far, no oil spill has been sighted in Malaysian waters.

"However, the department will continue to monitor whether currents are carrying the spill towards Malaysia.

"We are also always in contact with our Singaporean counterparts and they have begun the cleaning process. The owner of the vessel is also involved in operations."

Rosnani said the contingency plan to clean up the oil spill had been well established.

"Resources will be mobilised as and when needed.

"For now, the department needs to constantly monitor the situation so that the spill does not reach our waters."

Containment effort keeps oil spill in Singapore waters
The Star 27 May 10;

JOHOR BARU: The oil spill in the Singapore Strait is not expected to drift into Malaysian waters.

The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority is actively cleaning the spill by sucking the oil into the empty tanks of mt Bunga Kelana 3.

The mt Bunga Kelana 3, a Malaysian-registered tanker, and the bulk carrier mv Waily, which was registered in St Vincent and The Grenadines, collided in the strait — about 13km southeast of Changi East on Monday morning — causing some 2,000 tonnes of crude oil to spill into the sea.

Johor DOE director Dr Zulkifli Abdul Rahman said the clean-up was expected to take more than a week.

“We are in constant contact with the Singapore authorities and our personnel had been put on alert,” he said when contacted by The Star here yesterday.

The Marine Police have deployed three boats to Pengerang waters for security measures.

They are expected to patrol the border between Singapore and Malaysian waters to prevent boats from going into the oil spill area.

The oil spill happened at four nautical miles off the Pengerang waters.