Asia's key trade artery plagued by traffic and smog

Asia's key trade artery plagued by traffic and smog

By Ramthan Hussain

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Growing traffic problems in the Strait of Malacca, for centuries one of Asia's key trade arteries, are sparking fears over safety and the environment.

Concerns over congestion have been compounded by thick smog choking much of Southeast Asia, which has been blamed for a spate of shipping accidents in recent weeks.

"Our fear lately has been if oil tankers were to collide, the oil spill would very quickly reach the shores of the (Malaysian) peninsula and Sumatra," said Khoo Kay Kim, history professor at the University of Malaya.

"And if there is to be a fire, it would be quite tragic."

One of the world's busiest shipping lanes, linking East and West, the 600-kilometer long funnel-shaped strait separates peninsula Malaysia from the huge Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Linking the Bay of Bengal with the Singapore Strait and the South China Sea, its shallowest point is 21-23 meters and its deepest 35 meters.

Its width ranges from eight nautical miles at its southern end to 140 nautical miles in the north.

One estimate puts the number of large ships using the strait at more than 200 a day, in addition to hundreds of small craft.

The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) estimates that more than 600 vessels use the strait daily.

The number of collisions recorded in the strait have risen rapidly in the past year.

In the five years to September 1993 the Forum said there were 490 accidents, or fewer than 100 a year. Last year the figure swelled to 149 -- more than one accident every three days.

In the first four months of this year, there were 46 collisions or groundings in the strait, according to the Malaysian authorities.

One of the region's largest oil spills occurred in 1992 when the tanker Nagasaki Spirit collided with the container ship Ocean Blessing, spilling 13,000 tons of crude into the strait. Clean-up costs were estimated at 3.7 million ringgit (US$1.16 million).

Last year, insurers for the tanker paid out almost two million ringgit to those involved and affected by the spill.

Piracy

The thousands of small inlets, islets and bays along the shores of the strait have made it a fertile hunting ground for pirates.

"Piracy was quite appalling in the early 1990s," said Jayant Abhyankar, deputy director with the London-based International Maritime Bureau and Piracy Reporting Center.

"Recently the situation has improved quite a lot."

So far no attacks have been reported in the strait this year compared with three last year, seven in 1992 and 19 in 1991.

"The attacks were like mini armed robberies. The pirates came on the ship to target the safe and valuables from the crew and the attack would be over in 45 minutes. They rarely lead to a loss of lives," he said.

Piracy has been curbed because the littoral states have boosted joint patrols, especially where pirates offload their loot.

Narrow channels, poor visibility in the frequent rain squalls and criss-crossing traffic are added risks.

The blinding smog emanating from forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo has sometimes cut visibility to 500 meters, making navigation a nightmare.

A shipping source said pilots require a visibility of three to five nautical miles for safe navigation.

But many ships are anyway ill-prepared to navigate the strait, Capt. Royston Cole, managing director of Imco Maritime Surveyors Pte Ltd, told Reuters.

The company has been providing pilotage service for large ships in the strait since 1991.

He said in addition to age and poor maintenance, some ships lack the equipment and up-to-date charts. Crews are often insufficient in number and lack experience.

During poor visibility caused by the smog, a good radar system is critical. "But at the same time they should have enough crew to act as lookouts on the bridge," Cole said.

Khoo said the strait became "really important" after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the arrival of steamships during 1870-71.

"As the route from east to west and vice versa, it's quite indispensable as it shortens the journey considerably," he said.

"But in those days we seldom heard of collisions. Maybe traffic was not very heavy...The Strait of Malacca is narrow and not very deep either."

From the 14th century, Arab and Indian merchants plied the strait to trade and to spread Islam. The strait was also crucial in developing trade among the region's seafaring people.

From Goa in India, the Portuguese moved east via the strait to Malacca, resulting in the peninsula's first contact with European colonizers in 1511.

Malacca was the ideal center for the spice trade linking the west with the Molucca islands in present day Indonesia.

Alternative

But before the mid-19th century, most European ships bound for China gave the Malacca Strait a miss by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and along the western coast of Sumatra into Java's Sunda Strait, Khoo said.

Malaysia suggested the pre-Suez Canal route as an alternative after a collision in September between Indian merchant vessel ICL Vickraman and an empty oil tanker left 29 people feared dead.

Poor visibility due to the smog was cited as one reason for the mishap, which is still being investigated. Barely a day later, Malaysian-registered tanker MT Rohas Ria was involved in an accident with an unknown object in the smog-shrouded strait.

A week before the two incidents, poor visibility is thought to have caused a collision between two other cargo ships.

Cole said it was not necessary to use alternative routes as it would raise costs and delay ship movement. But he believes every ship should be required to have skilled navigators on board.

"I think pilotage must be made compulsory through the strait," he said.

"You must get people with experience in navigating the larger ships. The government should put the onus on somebody like us to act as contractor to supply pilots...if there is a collision, they would look to us and ask why it happened."

Cole said a super tanker traveling at 12.5 knots takes 21 days and 19 hours to travel 6,535 nautical miles from Aden in Yemen to Yokohama, Japan via the Malacca Strait.

But the alternative Sunda Strait would take it two more days to travel 7,165 nautical miles, and another two days if it uses the Lombok Strait, near Bali, to travel 7,549 nautical miles.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi once said foreign shippers would have to spend an additional $150 billion a year if they shifted from the Malacca Strait to Lombok.

He said this in 1994 to urge countries using the Malacca Strait to help pay for its upkeep.

Since then, Singapore and Malaysia have regularly called for improved safety in the strait, such as mandatory ship reporting and the extension of traffic separation in the strait.

Malaysia is also awaiting approval from the International Maritime Organization for a 100-million ringgit new radar system which will allow its rescue center to monitor movement of ships round the clock for the first time.