MANAGING THE RISK OF NON-INDIGENOUS MARINE SPECIES TRANSFER IN SINGAPORE THROUGH A STUDY OF VESSEL MOVEMENT

Abstract

The transport of global cargo today relies heavily on shipping, and vessels remain one of the most efficient transportation vehicles to move cargo around the world. However, this has also inevitably connected different marine environments around the world through the establishment of shipping routes, resulting in the narrowing of physical distances between different marine ecosystems. Therefore, shipping is recognized as a major vector for the transport of non-indigenous marine species (NIMS) around the world’s marine environment. NIMS transfer through vessel ballast water and biofouling to new marine environments potentially cause irreversible disruption to the native ecosystem, incurring huge economic losses and loss of livelihoods.

Global market supply and demand often influence the establishment and regionalization of commercial shipping network or vessel movement; therefore, different marine environments within this shipping network may face different vulnerabilities and challenges to the impacts of NIMS transfer through shipping. As a major transshipment port for vessels plying international shipping routes in Southeast Asia (SEA), Singapore can minimize the risk of NIMS transfer through its port by implementing suitable vessel management strategies. This dissertation examines the challenges and roles Singapore face, and proposes using vessel movement information in port to assess the level of risk of NIMS transfer, which can further allow appropriate vessel management strategies to be formulated in action plans to manage potential marine bio-invasions.

This may be a pragmatic approach towards managing the risk of NIMS transfer on vessels, as determining the actual risk of vessels harboring NIMS can put constraints on operational measures such as conducting detailed vessel inspections. Physical inspection of biofouling on vessel hull and niche areas is operationally demanding, requiring that vessels be dry-docked or diver-inspected. Similarly, sampling of ballast water while in port may not always be possible, e.g., when the vessel is ballasting. For the port state, such activities can place operational and resource limits on managing the huge vessel arrivals in port to comply with inspection or sampling regimes under IMO standards. Containerized vessel records at a major port terminal (Keppel Terminal) in Singapore were used as a basis to determine the vessel movement and time spent in port. These information could form a basis for assessing the risks of NIMS transfer on vessels and prioritizing inspection for high risk vessels.

Findings from vessel movement information for three one-month periods over one year showed that vessel residence time (i.e. length-of-stay) in port is short, with more than 50% of vessels spending approximately one day in port, while more than 92% of vessels spent seven days or less in port. There was little variation in vessel residence time to vessel arrival numbers over these three different periods of study, suggesting that vessel movement patterns in Keppel Terminal over these periods were similar. The top three last ports of call based on numbers of arriving vessels were found to be regional ports, i.e., Laem Chabang (Thailand), Port Klang and Tanjung Pelepas (both Malaysia).

Using two key features in 1) vessel residence time and 2) biogeographic origin of the vessels’ last port of call, a simple risk assessment matrix was constructed and applied to assess the level of risk of NIMS transfer by transiting vessels in Keppel Terminal. Using this matrix, an overall low level of risk was associated with the vessel movement information in this study, given the short vessel residence time and similarity of marine eco-regions of the last port of call. This matrix allows for the identification of high risk vessels. Vessels from environmentally similar marine eco-regions can also be identified. Priorities can also be set with regards to non-compliance inspection or other vessel management strategies for vessels likely (or unlikely) to harbor NIMS. This matrix can also be used as a basis for vessel action plans to manage NIMS transfer in port, while allowing port state controls to make informed decisions on implementation of existing International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards and guidelines on managing transfer of NIMS through shipping.