Asia/Pacific News
Four Seafarers From Dutch Dredging Vessel Charged Over Singapore Bunker Spill
Four crew members of a Dutch dredging vessel have been charged over a collision that caused a large bunker spill in Singapore earlier this year.
The dredger Vox Maxima ran into the stationary bunker vessel Marine Honour at the Pasir Panjang Terminal on June 14, resulting in a spill of about 400 mt of VLSFO.
Four of the Vox Maxima's crew -- Merijn Heidema, Martin Hans Sinke, Richard Ouwehand and Eric Peijpers -- have now been charged under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 for their alleged role in the collision, local news provider the Straits Times reported on Wednesday.
Ouwehand and Sinke are accused of failing to ensure that emergency steering was carried out when emergency power was supplied to the vessel's steering gear pumps, while Heidema and Peijpers had allegedly failed to ensure that when the engine room was put in a standby condition, an adequate reserve of power was available for the Vox Maxima's steering gear, according to the report.
The bunker spill was the largest in Singapore for a decade.
