Singapore conducts trilateral oil spill response exercise, tests new technologies

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) on Friday (16 October) said Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia conducted a ground deployment exercise (GDX) under the Revolving Fund Committee to strengthen coordination in responding to oil spills in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. 

Conducted ahead of Singapore’s 17th Joint Oil Spill Exercise (JOSE) 2026, the GDX simulated an oil spill originating from a vessel collision in Singapore waters, with the oil subsequently reaching the shores of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Led by MPA, the GDX tested information sharing, response planning and mutual assistance among the three littoral States. As part of the exercise, Indonesia and Malaysia deployed response assets in their respective waters to test their response arrangements under the exercise scenario.

Separately, MPA hosted representatives from government agencies, industry partners and international organisations at the Integrated Operations Hub (IOH) Lab at ALICE@Mediapolis as part of JOSE 2026. The programme provided an opportunity to share Singapore’s oil spill response capabilities and explore how emerging technologies could support future response operations. 

Representatives from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), ITOPF, Indonesia’s Directorate General of Sea Transportation and Malaysia’s Department of Environment also attended the programme.

Participants were briefed on the coordinated deployment of response assets for oil containment, dispersal and recovery, drawing on demonstrations conducted at sea.

The programme also highlighted how emerging technologies could enhance oil spill response. These included MPA’s Maritime Digital Twin (MDT), which uses modelling to predict the movement of spilled oil and identify potentially affected areas, as well as artificial intelligence to support response planning and resource deployment.

Participants were also briefed on potential concepts of operations involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned surface vessels (USVs), including those trialled with ST Engineering. 

Drawing on demonstrations conducted at sea, the briefing illustrated how aerial surveillance could guide USVs in carrying out tasks such as dispersant spraying and oil containment boom towing. Overall, JOSE explored how such concepts of operations could be supported as unmanned technologies mature, potentially expanding the range of capabilities available for future oil spill response operations.

Photo credit: Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore
Published: 19 October, 2026