MPA holds routine joint exercise on oil spill four months after Pasir Panjang incident

Operator-owned response vessels are equipped with vessel-mounted oil dispersant spray systems, while MPA patrol vessels are assigned to patrol Singapore waters 24/7 and can also spray dispersants when necessary.

Additionally, protective barriers were installed by several operators to facilitate cleaning operations and reduce disruptions to operations. Protective barriers are floating barriers that retain oil and, in turn, control its spread.

The official said representatives of nature and community groups were invited to observe the seaward deployment exercise.

The Straits Times asked the MPA whether the June incident influenced the way it carried out the October 11 exercise, as well as what lessons it learned from the exercise.

The oil spill on June 14 was caused by a collision between the Dutch-flagged dredging vessel Vox Maxima and the Singapore-flagged bunker vessel Marine Honor at Pasir Panjang Terminal, resulting in 400 tonnes of fuel leaking into the sea .

The oil then spread along the coasts of East Coast Park, the Labrador Nature Reserve, Keppel Bay, the South Islands and Sentosa, with water activities on the affected beaches suspended for more than two months.

Separately, MPA is exploring new technologies that could support its response to such spills, including hyperspectral cameras – which capture narrow spectral bands across a wide range of wavelengths, from visible to infrared – with the potential to detect oil slicks. below the water surface.

By analyzing the unique light reflections or absorption patterns of different materials, these cameras could help detect weathered oil floating beneath the water’s surface and possibly enable nighttime surveillance operations, MPA added.