Oil Tankers on Fire After Colliding Close to Singapore, Crew Rescued

TEMPO.CO, Singapore - Two large oil tankers were on fire on Friday, July 19, after colliding near Singapore, the world's biggest refueling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from life rafts, authorities and one of the tanker operators said.

Singapore is Asia's biggest oil-trading hub and the world's largest bunkering port. Its surrounding waters are vital trade waterways between Asia and Europe and the Middle East and among the busiest global sea lanes.

The Singapore-flagged tanker Hafnia Nile and the Sao Tome and Principe-flagged tanker Ceres I were about 55 km (34 miles) northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca on the eastern approach to the Singapore Straits, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.

The 22 crew of the Hafnia Nile and the 40 on the Ceres I were all accounted for, said the MPA, which was alerted to the fire at 6:15 a.m. (22:15 GMT).

Hafnia, the operator of Hafnia Nile, confirmed the vessel collided with Chinese-owned Ceres I. Hafnia added in a statement that a tug is on scene to assist the ship, which is drifting toward open sea. Specialized tugs are en route to join firefighting efforts and are expected to arrive within hours.

The exact circumstances leading to the incident are unknown.

Photographs released by the Singapore Navy showed thick black smoke billowing from one tanker and crew being rescued from life rafts and flown to hospital.

Environmental authorities in neighbouring Malaysia said they had been told to prepare for potential oil spills.

Norway’s Gard, one of Hafnia Nile’s insurers, told Reuters it was too early to assess the environmental impact.

"We are supporting our member as they are dealing with the incident," Gard said.

Navigational traffic had not been affected, although the status of the vessels or any pollution was unknown at present, a spokesperson at the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) said.

"No aerial surveillance has been conducted so far," the spokesperson said.

"Salvage and firefighting assets have been arranged by both vessel owners to support the firefighting efforts and subsequent towage of the vessels to safety."

The IMO spokesperson said a salvage team had been appointed and was en route to the area.

The 74,000-deadweight-tons capacity panamax tanker Hafnia Nile was carrying about 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.

The Ceres I is a very large crude carrier supertanker, which ship-tracking data last showed was carrying around 2 million barrels of Iranian crude.

"The Ceres I has been a boat that has gone dark many times over the years," said Matt Stanley, head of market engagement EMEA & APAC with Kpler, referring to when vessels switch off their AIS tracking transponders.

Stanley said the last AIS signal the vessel transmitted around March indicated it was carrying Iranian crude, which the U.S. has tried to curtail, including imposing sanctions on ports, vessels and refineries involved in the trade.

"She was at anchorage (on Friday). We can be fairly sure that she was carrying Iranian crude and was going to China," Stanley said.

REUTERS

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