Oil tankers on fire after colliding close to Singapore

Two large oil tankers were on fire yesterday after colliding near Singapore, the world’s biggest refuelling port, with two crew members airlifted to hospital and others rescued from life rafts, authorities and one of the tanker owners 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 55km 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, the MPA said, which was alerted to the fire at 6.15am (2215 GMT)The owner of Hafnia Nile confirmed the vessel was involved in a collision with Chinese owned Ceres I. 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. The 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 Organisation (IMO) said. "No aerial surveillance has been conducted so far,” the spokesperson said."Salvage and fire-fighting assets have been arranged by both vessel owners to support the fire-fighting 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-tonnes capacity panamax tanker Hafnia Nile was carrying about 300,000 barrels of naphtha, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG.