Singapore lays down spill laws

Citation

(1999), "Singapore lays down spill laws", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308bab.002

Singapore lays down spill laws

Singapore lays down spill laws

Tankers calling at Singapore will have to show proof of adequate insurance for oil spills as the city-state upgrades its armory against pollution. Singapore, which boasts more ship arrivals than any other port in the world, is implementing two conventions: the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund. They take effect 18 September 1998 and 31 December 1998, respectively.

Singapore had more than 130,000 vessel calls last year, about 13 per cent of which were tankers. In addition, up to 1,000 laden very-large crude carriers, or VLCCs, transit the Singapore Strait without stopping. Beginning in September, tankers carrying more than 2,000 tons, or 14,000 barrels, of crude will need a Civil Liability Convention (CLC 92) certificate issued by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. In order to get the certificate, vessels must prove they have adequate cover, generally arranged through Protection and Indemnity Clubs.

Fines

Tankers registered outside Singapore will need to show a certificate before leaving port. Fines of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($6,250) can be imposed on ships leaving port without permission, an MPA spokesman said. The Singapore agency also has the authority to prevent a vessel from entering its waters. By adopting the two conventions, Singapore is adding to an existing body of anti-pollution law. Under one local law, a person found guilty of polluting Singapore waters faces a fine of S$500,000 and up to two years in jail. Penalties can be much higher. Last year, the master of a tanker that deliberately discharged oily waste into Singapore waters was fined a record S$1 million and was jailed for 14 months. The chief officer was sentenced to six weeks in jail. CLC '92 raises the amount of compensation for damage and cleanup costs of an oil spill to $75 million from $17.5 million. Combined with the 1992 compensation fund, this brings the total to about $250 million.

Rare

Even that wouldn't cover such a disaster as the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, where claims topped $5 billion, officials acknowledge. They add that such episodes are exceedingly rare, with most damage caused by much smaller mishaps. Singapore suffered its worst such accident in October, when the Cyprus-flagged Evoikos laden with 120,000 tons of bunker fuel was holed in a collision with the empty Orapin Global, a Thai-registered VLCC. About 29,000 tons of oil spewed out, some washing up in neighbouring countries. The skipper of the 268,450-dead-weight-ton Orapin Global was charged with failing to take appropriate action to avoid the accident. The master of the 140,210-dwt. Evoikos was charged with breach of duty for failing to reduce speed after repeated warnings of a collision. All of which has made Singapore acutely conscious of the dangers of oil pollution.

"Singapore is strategically located at the crossroads of major shipping routes linking East and West (and) hundreds of ships pass our doorstep every day," Chen Tze Penn, director-general of the MPA, told a seminar on the new protection arrangements.

Singapore is an extremely vulnerable position because of the number of laden tankers passing by. In 1996, there was an average 97 such transit voyages each month, another MPA official said: "At the time of the last spill, Singapore had not joined a 1971 protocol that provided barely $80 million as top compensation for cleanup and damage. Singapore has signed the 1992 convention, but it had not yet come into force, leaving local authorities to shoulder the excess costs. Terms of the 1992 fund require oil companies and traders handling more than 150,000 tons of crude or fuel oils in the preceding year to contribute to the fund. The precise amount is based on the tonnage of oil received by each company.

Calculated

Singapore's contribution will come chiefly from local refiners ­ the island is the region's largest ­ and traders, the MPA said. Payments are calculated on the number and size of spills, the amount by which claims exceed the basic 1992 fund level, costs and expenses of administering the fund and any deficit from preceding years. Compensation is also available to non-sovereign victims where no liability attaches to a shipowner. This would cover exceptional natural phenomena or deliberate third-party acts.

The narrow sea lanes around Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are among the world's most congested. Singapore has enforced a traffic separation program in the strait and will implement mandatory reporting of positions this year, Mr Chen said.

The first electronic navigation chart was introduced earlier this year to assist in passage and further use of high-technology such as satellite communications are being studied, he said.(Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 312 No. 10, 5 June 1998)