Channel NewsAsia 21 Feb 14;
SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) take a serious view of any oil spill in Singapore waters.
Under the Prevention of the Pollution of the Sea Act (PPSA), MPA will take the necessary enforcement measures to bring the responsible parties to task if investigations reveal that an oil spillage resulted from a culpable act or an omission.
Depending on the circumstances of a case, the responsible party may be prosecuted.
Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim said this in Parliament on Friday.
He was responding to Nominated Member of Parliament Faizah Jamal, who wanted to know the steps that the authorities are taking against those responsible for oil spills in Singapore waters.
Associate Professor Faishal also said that MOT and MPA have worked with various stakeholders to take swift action in cleaning up the oil spill caused by the three vessel collisions in late January and early February this year.
MPA is conducting thorough investigations to determine the circumstances leading to the collisions and the subsequent oil spills, and will take appropriate actions against the responsible parties.
Findings of the investigations and the lessons learnt will be disseminated to the shipping community to prevent such incidents from recurring.
In the interim, measures are being taken to reinforce safety in Singapore waters, including briefings to the shipping community.
The authorities are also working with a few countries and organisations to develop a safe passage guide for mariners navigating the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
Dr Faishal said Singapore reports every incident in its waters to the International Maritime Organisation.
It also works closely with other countries and organisations that promote marine life and the environment.
- CNA/xq
The clip uploaded under the heading "Measures by coffeeshop, supermarket operators to minimise noise in HDB estates"
Channel NewsAsia 22 Feb 14;
[wilsingapore update -- These were the written question submitted by NMP Faizah Jamal:
To ask the Minister for Transport (a) what steps does MPA take to bring parties responsible for oil spills in our waters to task; and (b) whether reports of the actions taken against such parties may be open for public scrutiny.
[wildsingapore update -- The following is our transcript of the above video clip. The official transcript will be available on Parliamentary Reports Hansard 7 working days after the event.
4:40 Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) take a serious view of any oil spill in Singapore waters. Under the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act (PPSA), MPA will take the necessary enforcement measures to bring the responsible parties to task. If investigations reveal that an oil spillage resulted from a culpable act or an omission under the ACT, depending on the circumstances of each case the responsible parties may be prosecuted. Such offences carry a fine of up to $1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or both.
More recently MPA and MOT have worked together with various stakeholders to take swift action in cleaning up the oil spillage caused by three vessels collisions on 29 Jan, 30 Jan and 10 Feb 2014. MPA is conducting thorough investigations to determine the circumstances leading to the collision and subsequent oil spillages, and will take appropriate action against the responsible party. Findings of the investigations and lessons learnt will be disseminated to the shipping community so that we can prevent such incidents from re-occurring.
6:08 Nominated Member of Parliament Ms Faizah Jamal: I have three supplementary questions. Thank you for saying that the report will be given to the shipping community. What about it being made public as well so that there will be better cooperation between say MPA as well as the volunteers, nature activists who have been down on the ground, looking at what's happening.
And secondly does MPA have rapid environment monitoring response team to conduct EIAs on the marine habitat. Because the press releases seem to show that whilst the ships have been contained and there seems to be no health impact to the public, there is no response or no indication on what it does to the marine and coastal environment.
And lastly, the fact that 3 collisions happened in a span of 2 weeks does it mean that our waterways are stretched beyond its sustainable capacity. And would MPA consider using other methods beyond dispersants because as I understand it, studies show that this method where oil and dispersants are mixed together is actually 52 times more toxic when combined. So is MPA doing any other studies to overcome this kind of problems.
07:20 Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: I'd like to thank the Member for the three questions. Firstly I'd like to share with Member that every incident we report to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), so it important for Members to keep track of developments in this area.
Secondly, we work very closely, not only with IMO, within IMO we have many other organisations, countries that also promote marine life, looking at the environment. So I want to assure Member that we will certainly take that into account. We want to not only keep our waters safe, but we want to keep our water clean as well. So it is most important to keep it safe so that there won't be any incidents that will result or affect either marine life and so forth. In doing so, I'd like to assure Member that we have the POCC whereby it is a control centre where we look at how we are able to help and advance the ships and vessels that navigate along our area. I must say that all the instances that we have the POCC have been able to provide advice to the vessels involved. Even the three collisions that we have last month and early this month, we were able to provide advanced info to the vessels.
And I'd like to assure that while investigations are going on, we have taken interim measures. First being that we also conducted briefings to the shipping community. Why? Is to enforce the importance of safety of navigation in the Singapore waters. In fact we just had one on the 13th of February. We are also proclamating the odd marine and shipping circulars to the shipping and harbour craft communities, emphasising the importance of navigational safety and maintaining vigilance while navigating. And the POCC also broadcasts messages to these vessels at any point in time when necessary to remind them of safety aspects while they are navigating. At the same time, we are working with a few organisations and countries to develop a safe passage guide for all mariners navigating in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. And this will make it safer and will keep on reminding the message that safety is key. As soon as it's ready, we will share with the shipping community.
Actions against Parties Responsible for Oil Spills
from the Singapore Parliament Report (HANSARD)
Ms Faizah Jamal asked the Minister for Transport (a) what steps does MPA take to bring parties responsible for oil spills in our waters to task; and (b) whether reports of the actions taken against such parties may be open for public scrutiny.
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Transport (Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim) (for the Minister for Transport): Mdm Speaker, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) take a serious view of any oil spills in Singapore waters. Under the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act (EPSA), MPA will take the necessary enforcement measures to bring the responsible parties to task if investigations require that an oil spillage resulted from a culpable act or an omission under the Act. Depending on the circumstances of each case, the responsible parties may be prosecuted. Such offences carry a fine of up to $1 million, imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.
Most recently, MOT and MPA have worked with various stakeholders to take swift action in cleaning up the oil spillages caused by the collisions of three vessels on 29 January 2014, 30 January and 10 February 2014. MPA is conducting thorough investigations to determine the circumstances leading to the collision and the subsequent oil spillages, and will take appropriate actions against the responsible parties.
In accordance with Singapore’s international maritime obligations, MPA submits its marine safety investigation reports to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). MPA also shares the findings of the investigations and the lessons learnt from such investigations with the shipping community. MPA will continue to reinforce the importance of preventive measures so as to minimise the risks of such incidents.
Ms Faizah Jamal: I have three supplementary questions. I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for saying that the reports will be given to the shipping community. What about them being made public as well so that there will be better cooperation between say MPA and the volunteer nature activists who have been down on the ground looking at what is happening? Secondly, does MPA have rapid environment monitoring response teams to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) on the marine habitats? The press releases seem to show that whilst the ships have been contained and there seems to be no harm to the public, there is no response or no indication of what it does to the marine coastal environment. Lastly, the fact that three collisions happened in a span of about a couple of weeks: does it mean that our waterways are stretched beyond their sustainable capacity, and so would MPA consider using other methods beyond dispersants? As I understand it, a study showed that this method where oil and dispersants are mixed together is actually 52 times more toxic when combined. Is MPA doing any other studies to overcome this kind of problems?
Assoc Prof Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim: Madam, I thank the Member for the questions. Firstly, I would like to share with the Member that every incident is reported to the IMO, so members of the public can keep track of the developments through the IMO. Secondly, we work very closely not only with IMO, but with other organisations and countries that also promote marine life and looking at the environment. So I want to assure the Member that we certainly would take that into account.
We want to not only keep our waters safe, but also keep our waters clean. It is most important that we keep the waterways safe so that there will not be any incidents that will affect marine life.
I would like to assure the Member that we have the Port Operation Control Centre (POCC) which advises vessels on how they can safely navigate in our waters. For all the instances that we have, the POCC has been able to provide advice to the vessels involved. Even for the three recent collisions that we had last month and early this month, we were able to provide advance traffic information to the vessels.
I would like to assure the Member that while investigations are on-going, we have taken interim measures. First, we have conducted briefings to the shipping community to reinforce the importance of safety of navigation in Singapore waters. We had the first briefing on 13 February. We are also promulgating the Port Marine and Shipping Circulars to the shipping and hovercraft communities, emphasising the importance of navigational safety and maintaining vigilance while navigating. The POCC also broadcasts messages to these vessels at any point in time when necessary to remind them of safety aspects while navigating. At the same time, we are working with a few organisations and countries to develop a safe passage guide for all mariners navigating in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. These efforts will make our waters safer for navigation and we will keep on bringing home the message that safety is key. As soon as our investigation findings are ready, we will share it with the shipping community.
Mr Speaker: Order. I propose to take the break now. I suspend the Sitting and will take the Chair at 3.30 pm.
