State Cooperation in Combating Transboundary Marine Pollution in South East Asia

• Author: Craig Forrest
• Position: Professor and Director, Marine and Shipping Law Unit, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland. The author thanks Dr. Bevan Marten for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this article
• Pages: 78-89

(2016) 30 ANZ Mar LJ

78

STATE COOPERATION IN COMBATING TRANSBOUNDARY MARINE

POLLUTION IN SOUTH EAST ASIA

Craig Forrest

Introduc tion

The close geographical proximity of the nation states of South East Asia1 expo ses them to rapid and extensive

transboundary pollution from incidents arising in their ‘shared’ ocean spaces. T hese waters have long been an

important international trade route and it is estimated that more than hal f of the world’s merchant tonnage now

sails through the waters of this r egion.2 The risk of pollution incidents arising from collisions at sea, particularly

those involving tankers, has long been appreciated.3 Indeed, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore in particular,

has been victim to numerous significant pollution incidents. In 1975 the tanker Showa Maru ran aground off

Singapore spilling 3,300 tons of crude oil, affecting Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.4 In 1987, the tanker

Elhami also ran aground off Singapore’s Raffles Lighthouse, spilling 2,300 tons of crude oil. T he following year

the tankers Asian Energy and Century Dawn, collided and spilled oil that formed a 5.2 sq km slick off Singapore's

east coast. The 1 990s say a number of incidents, including the collision between the tankers Orapin Global and

Evoikos about 5 km south of the Singapore Port Limit, spilling 28,463 tons of oil.5 In 2000, 7000 tons of crude

oil were sp illed when a Panama-registered vessel, Natuna Sea, ran aground in the Straits of Singapore6, and in

2002, 45 0 tons of marine fuel oil spilled into the waters of Singapore when the Thai-registered freighter MV

Hermion collided with the Singapore-registered bunker tanker Neptank VI I. In the same year, the collision

between the tanker Agate and the cargo ship Tian Yu resulted in the loss of 350 tons of light crude oil. In the

following year, the container ship MV APL Emerald hit some rocks about 1.3 km south of the lighthouse on Pedra

Branca, spilling 150 tons of fuel oil. In 2010, the tanker, MT Bunga Kelana 3 collided with the bulk carrier MV

Waily spilling up to 2,500 tons of crude oil.7 In 2011, the MV Oceania was sunk off Pulau Pisang, Malacca Strait

Malaysia after being struck by the MV X in Tai Hai.8 More recently, the LNG carrier Al Gharrafa collided with

the containership Hanjin Italy.9 Other States in the East Asian region have also experienced significant shipping

losses, many with loss of cargo or bunker oils or, with the sinking of the vessels, the prospect of future spills from

these wrecks.10

It has not only been shipping activities that pose a transboundary oil pollution threat in the region. Recently the

rapidly growing economies of South East Asia have necessitated and facilitated greater offshore oil and gas

 Professor and Director, Marine and Shipping Law Unit, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland. The author thanks Dr Bevan

Marten for his valuable comments on an earlier version of this article.

1 In the context of this article, South East Asia is used to describe a geographical area that includes the territories of Brunei Darussalam,

Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Other than East Timor, these States

make up the membership of ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations) together with Laos, which, as a land locked State, is not

directly impacted upon by trans-boundary marine pollution incidents. Given its immediate geographical proximity to South East Asia,

Australia is also covered.

2 Geeva Varghese, ‘An Assessment of the Increasing Risk of Marine Pollution Oil Spills and the Existing Preparedness Capabilities in the

Southeast Asian Region’ (Paper presented at the 2014 International Oil Spill Conference, Savannah, Georgia, USA, 5-8 May 2014)

ntations/2014/IOSC%202014_Manuscript_30014_Geeva.pdf>, 8 January

2016.

3 Rosnani Ibarahim, ‘International/Regional Cooperation to Oil Spill Response in the Straits of Malacca: An Overview’ Oil Spill

Symposium 1998, nani_ibarahim_e.pdf>, 6 January 2016.

4 Jenny Kiong and Kartini Saparudin, ‘Major Oil Spills in the Straits of Singapore’ Singapore Infopedia

09-06.html>, 9 January 2016.

5 Captain Mark Heah Eng Siang, ‘Prevention and Combat of Oil Pollution in Singapore and the “Evoikas” Oil Spill Incident on 15 October

1998(sic)’, PAJ Oil Spill Symposium October 1998, Tokyo Japan. See also Brian Dicks, Tosh Moller and Richard Satner, ‘The Evoikos and

Pontoon 300 incidents – Then Technical Adviser’s Perspective’ International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, 1999.

6 ITOPF Report, study/natuna-sea-indonesiasingaporemalaysia-2000/>, 15 February

2016.

7 Bunga Kelana 3, Waily Collide in Singapore Strait, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 MarineLink.com

<http://www.marinelink.com/news/singapore-collide-kelana334372.aspx>, 15 February 2016.

8 Marine Safety Investigation Report into the collision and subsequent foundering of the B Oceania

in the Malacca Strait, Malaysia on 29 July 2011 Report No. 06/2012.

/Investigations%202011/MV%20B%20Oceania_Interim%20Safety%

20Investigation%20Report.pdf > 15 February 2016.

9 Maritime Bulletin, /article/1104/Mega-LNG-tanker-Al-Gharrafa-collided-with-mega-

boxship-Hanjin-Italy-Malacca-Strait>, 15 February 2016.

10 In the Philippines for example, the tanker SOLAR 1 sank in 2006 in rough seas with a full cargo of heavy fuel oil in the Guimaras Straits,

spilling a significant amount of her cargo which resulted in pollution along the coastline

study/solar-1-philippines-2006/> 15 February 2016. In 2012, the Vietnamese registered Vinalines Queen sank off Luzon in the Philippines

with the loss of 22 of her 23 crew in December 2012. Shipwreck Log, recklog.com/log/2011/12/vinalines-queen/>.