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.