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Tier 1 or also known as the local contingency plan is activated if the spill is small and monitored by DOE. However, if the spill is to expand to areas outside port limits or beyond local capability, Area Response (Tier 2) will be adapted.
Major role players on site:
- An Area Coordinator, who is responsible for coordinating support.
- A Beach Cleanup Coordinator and an On-scene Commander, responsible for offshore cleanup operations.
- Local authorities.
- Local experts from various academic disciplines.
In terms of equipment, the Marine Department has 13 multipurpose catamarans deployed throughout the country for oil spill response with cooperation from Japanese Ministry of Transport through OSPAR (Oil Spill Preparedness and Response in Asia) scheme. The operating oil companies in Malaysia also funded the Petroleum Industry of Malaysia Mutual Aid Group (PIMMAG) to coordinate Tier 2 response supplementary to member resources.
History and Experience of Oil Spill
In 1992, Nagasaki Spirit incident occurred in Malacca Strait and the oil industry equipment at Port Klang and Port Dickson was airlifted to Langkawi Island. The oil slicks were cleaned manually although a small quantity of oil went ashore.
Another incident happened in 1997 where heavy fuel oil was spilled from tanker EVOIKOS off the coast of Singapore and the oil slicks came ashore along a 40km length of Malaysian coastline. With the effective strategy and monitoring, the oil spill was cleaned in a short period of time.
Conventions, Regional and Bilateral Agreements
For prevention and safety, Malaysia ratified and implements the MARPOL 73/78, Annex V. The regional and bilateral agreements are:
- Standard Operating Procedure for Joint Oil Spill Combat in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
- Sulawesi Sea Oil Spill Network Response Plan- sub-regional plan for the Straits of Lombok, Makassar and Sulawesi Sea – Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.
- Standard Operating Procedure for Joint Oil Spill Combat in the South China Sea including Brunei Bay – Malaysia and Brunei.
- The ASEAN – OSRAP (Association of South East Asian Nations Oil Spill Response Action Plan ) with the other ASEAN countries and with contribution from Japan.
- Regional Programme for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas with the ASEAN countries, Cambodia, China, PDR of Korea, Rep. of Korea and Vietnam.
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