Singapore oil spill: Four crew members of Vox Maxima plead guilty

Four Dutch crew members of the Van Oord’s dredger Vox Maxima that hit a bunker vessel in June 2024 and caused an oil spill pleaded guilty earlier this week to failing to discharge their duties properly.

According to local media, Merijn Heidema (26), Eric Peijpers (56), Martin Hans Sinke (48), and Richard Ouwehand (49), pleaded guilty to one charge each under the Merchant Shipping Act.

On June 14, the dredger hit the Marine Honour, a Singapore-flagged bunker vessel, at Pasir Panjang Terminal.

The court documents said that the Vox Maxima lost steering control before its allision with Marine Honour – referring to when a moving vessel hits a stationary object.

This caused about 400 tons of oil from the bunker vessel to spill into the sea, with parts of the spillage landing along Singapore’s southern shorelines including on beaches at Labrador Nature Reserve, Sentosa and East Coast Park.

Deputy Public Prosecutor, Regina Lim, informed the court that the clean-up operations took over two months, and the full extent of the oil spill’s impact on the coastal and marine environment is still being evaluated.

The court has scheduled the sentencing for April 2.