S'pore cleans up small oil spill

S'pore cleans up small oil spill

SINGAPORE (Reuters): The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said it has cleaned up a minor oil spill after a bunker tanker carrying 304 tons of marine gas oil collided with a dredger off Singapore yesterday.

The MPA said in a statement that the collision between the Dutch registered 7,906 gross-tonnage dredger Volvox Delta, and the Singapore 313 gross-tonnage bunker tanker Allwell Perfect occurred off the southern Sister Islands at 11:20 (0130 GMT).

"The bunker tanker was damaged in the vicinity of the engine room. A small amount of oil from its engine room was spilled into the sea," the MPA said.

The oil spill was cleaned up quickly by anti-pollution craft deployed by the MPA. The MPA did not specify the size of the spill.

No personnel were injured, it said.

There was no damage to the cargo tanks of the bunker tanker, which was heading towards the Eastern Anchorage from Jurong on the west coast of Singapore at the time of the accident.

It has now been beached at Selegi Beacon, north of the Sister Islands and its cargo is being transferred to another vessel.

The dredger sustained minor damage. It was heading to Jurong from the Indonesian island Batam.

The MPA said it is investigating the incident.

Singapore was the scene last year of one of the worst ever oil spills in Southeast Asia when 29,000 tons of marine fuel oil was spilled following a collision between the Cyprus-flagged Evoikos and the empty Thai super-tanker Orapin Global.