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Crew members of dredger pleaded guilty in trial after allision with bunker tanker

On March 12, 2025, four Dutch crew members of the Van Oord dredger 'Vox Maxima' (IMO: 9454096), that caused a major oil spill off the coast of Singapore on June 14, 2024, have admitted to failing to perform their duties properly before a Singaporean judge. Richard Ouwehand, 49, Martin Hans Sinke, 48, Eric Peijpers, 56, and Merijn Heidema, 26, pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 for their role in the oil spill. They had worked on the dredger, which was disabled due an engine failure and allided with the 'Marine Honour', causing a breach, and a large amount of fuel oil then leaked from the bunker ship. The oil spread to a beach park and a nature reserve in southern Singapore, among other places in the largest oil spill in Singapore in the past ten years. According to the prosecutor Regina Lim , the clean-up took two months. One of the crew members on trial was the captain of the dredger and another was the first mate. The other two crew members were engineers. The prosecutor has demanded fines of between 20,000 and 50,000 Singapore dollars, which is the equivalent of approximately 14,000 to 34,000 euros. On the morning of June 14, the circuit breaker of the outgoing feeder of the high-voltage switchboards to the step-down transformer on the starboard side of the 'Vox Maxima' was opened to allow for maintenance works. The circuit breaker controlled the flow of electrical power from the main generator to the step-down transformer on the starboard side, and when it was in an open state, no electrical power would be supplied to the equipment connected to the low-voltage switchboards. Prior to taking over the engineering watch at noon, Peijpers and Heidema did not check the status of the circuit breakers, which would affect the distribution of electrical power on the vessel. By law, they are required to be satisfied with the condition and mode of operation of the various main and auxiliary systems, including the electrical power distribution system, before taking over the engineering watch. During their watch, Peijpers and Heidema prepared the 'Vox Maxima' for her departure from the Western Anchorage to ST Engineering Marine’s Tuas shipyard. Just after noon, Peijpers and Heidema were notified by the officers from the preceding engineering watch and the officers on the bridge for the afternoon watch that the main engines had to be ready for the voyage by 1.30 p.m. The two men then stopped the auxiliary generator and started the main generators, which comprised the starboard generator and a second main generator on the port side. As the circuit breaker on the starboard side was open, no electrical power from the starboard generator could be supplied to the equipment connected to the low-voltage switchboards, and they were thus powered by the port generator. While on the way to Tuas shipyard, two of the 'Vox Maxima'’s hydraulic pumps that drew power from the low-voltage switchboards were started as part of the planned operations, increasing the load at a circuit breaker on the port side. This circuit breaker tripped as it was overloaded when the second hydraulic pump was started, leading to a loss of electrical power for all low-voltage equipment, including rudders and controllable pitch propellers. Upon the loss of steering control, both Ouwehand and Sinke were responsible for, among other things, engaging emergency steering, but they failed to do so. During this time, the 'Vox Maxima' approached the 'Super Hero', which managed to alter its course and speed to avoid a collision. A minute later, the dredger hit the starboard side of the 'Marine Honour', which suffered damage to at least six water ballast tanks, 10 cargo oil tanks and the slop port tank as a result. The 'Marine Honour' is still undergoing repairs of the damage in Singapore, and the cost of repairs is estimated to exceed $6.6 million. The prosecution is seeking fines of between $20,000 and $30,000 each for Ouwehand and Sinke, and fines of between $40,000 and $50,000 each for Heidema and Peijpers. For the offence, each of them can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for up to two years, or both. They are scheduled to be sentenced on April 2.

Parliament debate in aftermath of oil spill

During the Parliament sitting on July 2, as government leaders helming the response to the spill at Pasir Panjang Terminal delivered ministerial statements, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu, and National Development Minister Desmond Lee responded to 40 questions on the incident, filed by 23 MPs from both sides of the political aisle. Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin (Ang Mo Kio GRC) asked about the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for containing spills, while other MPs – including Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC) and Mr Edward Chia (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) – wanted to know the estimated costs of the cleanup. On June 14, at 2.18 p.m. the 'Vox Maxima' lost engine and steering controls and slammed into the 'Marine Honour', which was berthed at Pasir Panjang Terminal. On June 15, the oil that escaped from Marine Honour had washed ashore in areas such as Sentosa and East Coast Park. It took a contractor nearly 15 hours to complete the deployment of the booms, hampered by a thunderstorm and nightfall. The response to the spill – in particular the time it took to lay containment booms around the damaged bunker vessel – came under scrutiny again in Parliament on July 2. Workers’ Party (WP) MP Louis Chua (Sengkang GRC) asked about Singapore’s required response times to oil spills of varying severity. In response, Mr Chee said it was difficult to have a precise, single number, because “every oil spill was different. In some instances, the oil may not float very far away. In some instances, it may float farther away. In some instances, the oil density makes it easier to detect because it floats on the surface. In this case, it was an added challenge because this oil has a similar density to seawater, so it could go below the surface. At several points in Parliament Chee stressed that the authorities and their contractors followed international industry practices to contain the spill. In the first instance, dispersant was sprayed to break down the spilled oil, to pave the way for cleanup efforts. The contractor T&T Salvage Asia fully deployed 200 meters of booms on June 15 at 5.15 a.m. The contractor needed more time as it had to load its vessel with heavy equipment and set about the laborious task of laying the booms amid bad weather and nightfall. Chee said T&T did its best given the circumstances, and its response time was in line with industry practices internationally. He explained that currents and waves would have carried the spilled oil away from the accident site, and hence, the booms were not meant to ring-fence the oil that has already leaked. Rather, they were to prevent further spills from the vessel, which still had vast amounts of fuel in its tanks. WP MP Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) asked if the booms could have been deployed more quickly. Chee replied that the practices used in response to the oil spill have been developed over the years by experts, and this is how it is done internationally, not just in Singapore but also in other parts of the world. While the minister said that there was no disagreement that faster is better, he made the point that even in the best circumstances, there would be a gap between a large oil spill and when booms are fully deployed. In this case, the challenge for the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and its contractors was in locating those patches, an effort which was also hampered by poor visibility and nightfall. They were able to do so only on the morning after the spill, when the skimmers were dispatched. Another question was whether it made economic sense to have in-house capacity to contain oil spills, instead of engaging contractors. Mr Chee said the MPA has in-house capabilities, such as vessels, for this purpose. But, given the nature of spills, the Republic wants to tackle them in two ways: - Fostering “good collaborations” with its neighbours to ensure a coordinated response during spills; and - Working with contractors who are experts in various areas, including laying booms and skimming oil. Cautioning against a binary view that everything has to be in-house, or everything has to be outsourced, he said that both is needed. One key takeaway from the debate was that it takes all hands on deck to contain an oil spill. It is impossible for the authorities to go it alone.

Lightering may take two weeks

Safety lapses have been found aboard the 'Vox Maxima'. The dredger was detained after failing a port state control inspection a day after it collided with the 'Marine Honour' off the Pasir Panjang container terminal. Singapore inspectors uncovered 13 deficiencies aboard the ship, three of which were serious enough to warrant its detention, relating to life-saving appliances, fire safety and international safety management. Other deficiencies found included structural conditions as well as oil accumulation in the engine room, but these were not deemed as grounds for detention. The rectification of these deficiencies was ongoing, with close-out being done by Bureau Veritas and Lloyds Register. The ship had suffered a sudden loss in the engine and steering control before the incident, according to initial investigations into the incident by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. On June 25, Singapore authorities reported that it may take up to two weeks to safely lighter the remaining 800 tonnes of low-sulphur fuel oil on the 'Marine Honour' to ensure the stability of the vessel throughout the process. The tanker remained anchored off the western petroleum anchorage. The remaining fuel oil onboard from the ruptured cargo tank and its full contents onboard the vessel must be emptied before it can be towed into a shipyard for its repair. Aside from the containment booms laid around the vessel, a 35-tonne oil load Current Buster system was on station to respond to any potential leaks in the lightering process to transfer the oil to another tanker.