Marine Honour incident – Latest developments

Photo Credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore

As previously reported, on 14 June 2024, the Netherlands-flagged dredging ship Vox Maxima struck the Singapore-flagged Marine Honour at Pasir Panjang shipping terminal, resulting in an oil spill from one of the latter’s cargo tanks. The incident has caused pollution damage to the affected areas and is likely to result in claims for compensation, exceeding the limit of liability of the shipowner under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (1992 CLC).

Singapore is Party to both the 1992 CLC and the 1992 Fund Convention. It has been confirmed that the oil from the vessel is persistent and that the Marine Honour falls within the definition of ‘ship’ under the 1992 Conventions. Therefore, both the 1992 CLC and Fund Convention apply to this incident.

From the outset, the IOPC Funds has been liaising with the Government and the insurer of the ship, QBE. Most recently, during the week of 8 July 2024, the Deputy Director and Head of Claims, Liliana Monsalve, travelled to Singapore, where she met with senior officials from the Singapore Maritime Port Authority (MPA) and QBE. Whilst in the 1992 Fund Member State, the Deputy Director also held meetings with experts involved in the response and visited the sites impacted by the pollution.

IOPC Funds’ Director, Gaute Sivertsen, met in London with Tan Hoe Soon, the Assistant Chief Executive (Corporate and Strategy) at the MPA, Darrick Leow, the Maritime Counsellor at the High Commission of the Republic of Singapore, and other officials of the Singapore Government.

This strong cooperation and regular engagement between all the key stakeholders will be highly beneficial to the successful handling of this incident over the coming months.

The IOPC Funds and QBE  have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and are in the process of establishing a joint claims submission office to facilitate the submission of claims for compensation.

The IOPC Funds Secretariat will report any further developments in due course.