The Port Authority of Ceuta, together with the Maritime Captaincy, have been able to control in the last few hours the significant fuel spill inside the city’s port from a Liberian flag oil tanker, while the damage and the financial penalty to the shipowner are assessed.
Port sources have informed EFE that these companies have collaborated in the work to control the spill of fuel into the sea, which has been complicated by the adverse weather conditions due to wind and rain.
However, the anti-pollution barriers as well as the absorbents deployed at sea have prevented the spill from spreading to other places inside the port itself.
Various organizations and companies have participated in the control work, including one that has traveled from the port of Algeciras (Cádiz) to collaborate in containing the fuel spill.
The Maritime Captaincy is assessing the amount of tons dumped into the sea as well as the financial penalty for the oil tanker, which may exceed 200,000 euros.
As EFE has been able to verify, the ship remains docked at the city’s Alfau dock, waiting to fix the damage caused to the tank as well as being notified about the possible financial penalty.
The spill occurred late last night when the ship “K Onset”, which sails under the flag of Liberia, was docked at the Alfau dock refueling.
For undetermined reasons, a crack occurred in the ship’s fuel tank during loading operations, which gave rise to a significant spill that forced the activation of the alert systems.
The first hypotheses suggest that the ship was able to arrive at the port of Ceuta with the crack in its fuel tank.
The ship, built in 2006, 127 meters long and 20 meters wide, arrived in the city around 3:00 p.m. yesterday from the port of Vilagarcía de Arousa (Pontevedra).
This is the third “serious” incident of this type that has been recorded inside the port of Ceuta so far in 2024. In mid-February, the ‘Lider Trabzon’, flying the Panama flag, had to pay 136,000 euros in guarantee concept as responsible for another spill next to the Levante dam, where last week the ‘Schillplate’ also starred in another during a fuel supply operation.
The Maritime Captaincy kept the ship, flying the Gibraltar flag, detained for several days in the city until it deposited 72,000 euros, 60,000 to face the proposed sanction and 12,000 to cover the cleaning costs.
