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The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has said that 'good progress' has been made to contain and clean up the bunker spill resulting from the collision between the South Korean-registered bulk carrier, Oriental Pioneer [pictured], and the Bahamas-registered bulk carrier, Atlantic Hero.

In a statement, the MPA said that there had been no further spillage of fuel oil from Oriental Pioneer. As a precautionary measure, an oil boom and an oil spill response craft have been deployed around the vessel. Bio-degradable oil dispersants were used to break up the oil slick in the waters.

As of 17:00 hrs, the MPA said that 'no significant patches of oil' were sighted in the waters.

In total, 11 craft and some 100 personnel from MPA and oil spill response companies have been deployed as part of the containment and clean up efforts. A helicopter was also deployed to conduct aerial surveillance of the affected waters.

Vessel traffic in the Strait of Singapore and port waters remain unaffected. Port operations are also not affected.

The collision between Oriental Pioneer and Atlantic Hero occurred approximately 6.6 kilometres south-west of Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at 05:30hrs on July 2, 2013 (Singapore time). One of the Oriental Pioneer's bunker tanks was damaged and approximately 100 metric tonnes of fuel oil was said to have spilled.

Prior to the collision, the MPA says its Port Operations Control Centre had provided information and issued warnings to the vessels when they were about 1.5 nautical miles (about 2.8km) apart. The ships were also said to be in communication with each other.