The city-state of Singapore threw up booms to protect its beaches on the island resort of Sentosa today after an oil spill offshore, but the port authority said a clean-up was progressing well.
Hundreds of tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the sea after two ships collided about 4.5 kilometres off Singapore's southern coast today.
"There has been no report of the oil affecting any of the islands or mainland Singapore," the Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.
Eleven anti-pollution craft were on the scene and containment booms had been set up as a precaution in the waters off Sentosa and Marina Bay, near the central business district, it said.
Singapore, a regional oil processing and petrochemical hub, sits astride heavily used shipping lanes and operates the world's second-busiest port.
About 450 tonnes of marine fuel poured from the Neptank VII, a Singapore-registered tanker, after an early morning collision with the Thai-registered freighter MV Hermion.
The 1,937 gross-ton tanker was chartered by Royal Dutch/Shell, the oil company said in a statement.
The 9,580 gross-ton freighter, which was bound for Penang in Malaysia with 3,000 tonnes of plywood, is owned by Thoresen Thai Agency. The cargo was not damaged, the company's fleet manager Mr Andrew Airey said.
About 14 hours after the spill, the port authority said some oil patches had been cleaned up by anti-pollution craft and that the two ships were in port.
"Port operations, including the oil refineries and power plants, and vessel traffic are not affected and continue to function normally."