Singapore, Malaysia jointly conduct exercise to tackle chemical spill at sea

Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and Marine Department of Malaysia (MDM) on Thursday conducted a joint chemical spill exercise at sea along the East Johor Strait, said MPA in a press release.

The exercise aims to test the Joint Emergency Response Plan (ERP) for chemical spill incidents and the communication linkages between the Operation Liaison Officers (OLOs) and the Environment Liaison Officers (ELOs) in Malaysia and Singapore.

The exercise simulated a collision between a chemical tanker "MT MAY 2016" departing an oil terminal in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia and a cargo ship "MV JUN 2016" departing an adjacent shipyard, resulting in spillage of chemical, Styrene Monomer, approximately 30 metric tons spilled.

To simulate search-and-rescue coordination efforts, the exercise scenario also incorporated two crew members of "MV JUN 2016" falling overboard as a result of the impact caused by the collision.

As the exercise scenario originated from and occurred in Malaysian waters, MDM led the response efforts with MPA supporting the Malaysian authorities for seaward response operations according to the Chemical Contingency Plan (Marine) in areas such as spillage cleanup and search-and-rescue efforts.

Singapore's National Environment Agency supported the exercise by monitoring the air and water quality for signs of chemical contamination, information exchange with Malaysia's Johor Department of Environment and stood ready to coordinate cleanup efforts along Singapore's shorelines.

Singapore deployed four vessels, 30 officers and 10 observers to support the exercise in total, according to the press release.

MPA's Chief Executive Andrew Tan noted that regular bilateral exercises are vital to strengthening regional and multi-agency response capabilities as the Straits of Johor is a busy waterway.

"Today's exercise ensures that should collisions leading to chemical or oil spills occur, all agencies are ready to respond swiftly and effectively," added Tan.

NEA Chief Executive Officer Ronnie Tay said that he was heartened by the outcome of the exercise, which clearly demonstrates the operational readiness of both countries to control and mitigate chemical spill incidents in the Straits of Johor. Endit