Four crew members face charges after their negligence caused a significant oil spill at Pasir Panjang Terminal.
On November 6, four crew members of the Netherlands-flagged dredger Vox Maxima were charged in connection with the worst oil spill in Singapore in a decade. The incident occurred on June 14 when the dredger struck the stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel Marine Honour at Pasir Panjang Terminal. The collision resulted in around 400 tonnes of fuel leaking into the sea, affecting the coastlines of East Coast Park, Labrador Nature Reserve, Sentosa, and extending to the Johor coastline in Kota Tinggi.
The oil spill prompted the suspension of water activities at the impacted beaches while clean-up efforts were underway. The four crew members—Merijn Heidema, 25; Martin Hans Sinke, 48; Richard Ouwehand, 49; and Eric Peijpers, 55—were each charged under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. They are accused of failing to execute proper emergency procedures during the incident. Specifically, Ouwehand, the master of the dredger, and Sinke, the officer in charge of the navigational watch, are accused of not ensuring emergency steering was performed when emergency power was supplied to the steering gear. Heidema and Peijpers, who were in charge of the engineering watch, allegedly failed to ensure sufficient power was available for the steering gear when the engine room was put into standby mode.
