Busy waters around Singapore carry a host of hazards
SINGAPORE — The shipping lanes around Singapore, among the world’s busiest, carry a host of challenges to safe navigation, including a narrow strait, frequently limited visibility and thousands of vessels sailing through daily.
Countless ships have made the voyage in and out of Singapore without incident, but Monday’s pre-dawn collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and an oil and chemical tanker underlines the risks that normally go unnoticed.
Divers are searching for 10 missing sailors from the USS John S. McCain. Five of their comrades were injured and treated at a Singapore hospital. It was the second major collision in two months involving the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific.
Ships travelling into the Singapore Strait or out to the South China Sea travel in separate lanes. A “traffic separation zone” dividing the two can only be entered in emergencies.