Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Learning from the 2024 Pasir Panjang Allision

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) requires marine incidents in port to be reported immediately (MPA, 2008). The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of the Ministry of Transport investigates marine accidents and incidents and makes safety recommendations (MOT, n.d.). On 14 June 2024, the dredger Vox Maxima lost electrical power after leaving an anchorage. It struck the stationary bunker tanker Marine Honour, breaching its hull and causing severe pollution (TSIB, 2025). An estimated 400 tonnes of oil entered the sea (MOT, 2024). This case follows the incident from report to changes in port practice.

Approach

Immediate reporting to the port authority. The owner, agent or master must immediately report a collision, grounding, oil pollution, fire, sinking or any other marine incident to MPA's Port Master's Department (MPA, 2008). In 2024, MPA was notified at 2.22pm and its first patrol craft arrived 11 minutes later (MOT, 2024).

Duty to notify the investigator. The owner, master and person in charge of a ship must notify TSIB of marine occurrences. So must the operator of a port in Singapore if the occurrence happens on or next to its port (MOT, n.d.). This duty is separate from immediate incident reporting to MPA.

No-blame investigation. TSIB investigates under the Transport Safety Investigations Act 2018 and the IMO Casualty Investigation Code. Its sole objective is to prevent accidents and incidents. It does not apportion blame or liability. TSIB classified the allision as a very serious marine casualty (TSIB, 2025).

Published findings and recommendations. TSIB published its final report on 15 August 2025. It found that duty engineers had opened two starboard circuit breakers to inspect transformer cooling fans. The report includes sections on safety actions and safety recommendations (TSIB, 2025). All six recommendations went to the company managing Vox Maxima (MOT, 2025).

Feedback into port rules and training. MPA fed the lessons into a mandatory pilotage checklist and pilot training (MOT, 2025).

Results

In October 2025, answering a parliamentary question on the TSIB findings, the Acting Minister for Transport reported the following (MOT, 2025). MPA took action against four Vox Maxima crew members, who were convicted and fined under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. A similar allision scenario was added to the simulator training and assessment of MPA's harbour pilots. The Vessel's Checklist for Piloted Movements, which must be completed before pilotage, now requires crews to ensure their anchors can be readily let go in an emergency. MPA is studying whether to station harbour tugs at critical areas of the port to support ships with mechanical or electrical failures. In July 2024, the Minister had committed to updating SOPs and contingency plans with learning points from the incident (MOT, 2024).