The Diplomat
Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, assured yesterday that the cooperation between the Spanish and the Rock’s port authorities to contain the oil spill from the OS 35 ship is being “constant”. Meanwhile, several remains of the spill reached the coast of La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz) yesterday and the president of the Junta de Andalucía (Government of Andalusia), Juanma Moreno, called for a protocol between the regional, central and Gibraltarian authorities to act in this type of accident.
“I do not take any decision here because I am not an expert,” Picardo declared to Cadena SER regarding the possibility of asking Spain for help. “The person who has to make the decisions is the captain of the Port of Gibraltar, and we will give him all our support in whatever is necessary,” he added. In any case, he assured, the cooperation between the captaincies of the ports of Gibraltar and Algeciras “is constant”. “I know that (the captain of the Gibraltar post) has been in communication with the captain of Algeciras, in addition to having provided help with rescue boats and helicopters,” he added.
The ship has been stranded since Tuesday following a collision in the Rock’s harbor and its captain has been arrested for disobeying authorities. The Gibraltar Port Authority is trying to deal with the spill with the help of the Spanish authorities of Salvamento Maritimo through the vessel Luz de Mar, prepared to combat pollution.
Picardo also assured that 200 tons of the diesel fuel contained in the bulk carrier OS 35 have already been removed. “That is 80% of the diesel and then we will start to remove the heavy fuel oil, which is the most polluting. Now we are trying to make sure there is no slick. The slick we saw yesterday is the same we see today, a small slick,” he added. In this regard, the Gibraltar Maritime Captaincy confirmed yesterday that it had completed “successfully” the removal of 80% of the diesel carried by the ship, but said that in the engine room tank remain about five tons of fuel to allow the operation of the ship’s own machinery.
Meanwhile, the remains of the spill arrived yesterday at La Línea de la Concepción, as confirmed by the mayor of this town, Juan Franco, who the day before announced the intention of the City Council to take legal action for this accident so that responsibilities can be clarified. On the other hand, the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Government of Andalusia declared yesterday the prohibition of bathing in the Poniente beach, in La Línea de la Concepción, due to the presence of oily residues (fuels, lubricating oils and the presence of contamination of chemical substances) together with other remains dragged by the tide.
The Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno said yesterday that the regional administration is “on alert” and with “all the means necessary to try to avoid what could be a catastrophe in environmental terms” and indicated that the Board maintains “coordination with the General Administration of the State” and “contact with the Gibraltarian authorities”. He also stated that, “when we manage to stop all this”, should open “a calm debate, a reflection on the coordination that has to be in this type of problems between the regional authorities, national and, above all, with the Gibraltarian authorities” in order to have “an established protocol in case an incident of this nature should happen in the future with even more serious consequences”.
