Introduction

Safety of navigation and marine pollution in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore are important issues both for Straits states and the international maritime community. The Straits are an area of enormous significance. The majority of Middle East oil exports to Asia and most commerce between Asia and Europe pass through this 980-kilometre-long Straits (Coutrier 1988: 186). At least 400 ships navigate through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore every day. This includes 72 percent of supertankers and other vessels plying between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, making these Straits the busiest sea lane of communication and sea lane of oil trade globally (United States Energy Information Administration 2011; United States Department of Defense 2006: 33). At its narrowest point the Straits are only 2.75 kilometres wide and at its shallowest point 25 metres deep, creating a natural bottleneck and making it vulnerable to potential collisions, grounding, oil spills, or terrorist attack (Reuters 2010; United States Energy Information Administration 2011). In the period after the 11 September attacks, the potential for maritime terrorism and sea robbery in the Straits has grabbed headlines in the media but for littoral state officials and the concerned shipping businesses the safety of navigation is deemed a more immediate concern because of the risk of collision, grounding, and near misses.