There has been an increase of incidents where vessels anchored in the waters around the island of Bintan, in the Eastern portion of the Singapore Straits, have been detained. Bintan is a popular place to anchor (“waiting for orders”) because it is close to shipping lanes and believed to be OPL Singapore but it is in fact within Indonesian territorial waters. We are grateful to SPICA for having prepared the attached outline of the issue along with their recommendations.

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Vessel

Members are advised on the recent industry advisory issued by the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) and the attached notice issued by the club’s local correspondents in Indonesia (Spica Services), highlighting a number of cases where the ships anchored in waters around the island of Batam (on the Southern side of the Singapore Strait) and near Bintan (on the Eastern side of the Singapore Strait) have been detained by the Indonesian Authorities as a part of their efforts to combat smuggling.

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The club is aware that a number of ships are apparently instructed to ‘wait for orders’ off Singapore OPL (outside port limits). However, the waters in the Strait of Singapore and Malacca may not necessarily be international and will be claimed either by Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia. Releasing the ship from detention in such circumstances could be difficult and a time consuming process. As such, the club recommends its members to avoid anchoring at non-designated anchorages within the Singapore and Malacca Straits unless proper approval has been granted by the relevant authorities.