Oil on Singapore beaches after collision with Dutch ship Vox Maxima

Several beaches in Singapore were closed on Saturday due to an oil leak. The leak occurred a day earlier following a collision between the Dutch-flagged dredging vessel Vox Maxima and another ship.

The collision happened in a port terminal on the popular tourist island of Sentosa in south Singapore. On Friday evening, the Singapore port authorities announced that “the oil tank involved had been isolated and the spill contained.”

The oil slick has now affected three beaches. Floating barriers are in place to prevent the oil from spreading further, and the clean-up work is in full swing. However, it is not clear how much oil has leaked.

The almost 200-meter-long Vox Maxima was built by Royal IHC in 2009 to extract clay, sand, and gravel from the water bed using large pumps. According to AD, the ship is usually used for dredging projects such as the construction of harbors, waterways, and artificial islands.