Gibraltar considers most of the fuel from the damaged bulk carrier extracted

The west wind has complicated this Monday the work of extraction and containment of the fuel oil spill caused by

, the semi-sunken bulk carrier off the coast of Gibraltar.

All in all, the captain of the port of the city has considered recovered today "most of the fuel", although he acknowledges discrepancies in quantities with respect to the quantities declared at origin.

At the time of the incident —which occurred on the night of August 30—, the merchant ship said that it was traveling, for its own consumption, with 255 tons of diesel, 222.5 tons of fuel oil and 27 tons of lubricant, as updated by the Gibraltarian government on Monday. in a statement in which it has adapted the amounts to liters.

Of all these fuels, more than half of the fuel has already been rescued, the most polluting and complicated fuel to collect, the oil and more diesel than initially declared (310,000 liters, of the 290,267 liters that the crew said it transported).

Low-sulfur fuel oil, more polluting than gas oil, is precisely what has been being dumped into the sea, since the ship sagged in half last Wednesday and began to register fuel stains the next day.

Since then, the rescue teams from the port of Gibraltar and the Spanish Maritime Salvage have worked hard to try to contain them and collect them with barriers and anti-pollution equipment.

The tasks are more effective when the fuel is contained than in small spots adrift.

They have already rescued up to 21,000 liters of fuel in this way, thanks to a machine known as a Skimmer.

Hence, Gibraltar, through a company from the port of Algeciras,

Despite all this, the discharge stains have reached the coast of Gibraltar and the Poniente de La Línea de la Concepción beach, where the Junta de Andalucía came to prohibit bathing, now restored.

In the Rock, contamination has been detected in Gorham's Cave —declared a World Heritage Site for being one of the last places inhabited by Neanderthals—, Little Bay —where the intakes of the desalination plants for the city's running water are located— , Sandy Bay and Catalan Bay —in front of whose bay, 700 meters away, the bulk carrier is stranded—.

On this last beach, the west wind came to drag the containment barriers to the very shore, where "a small stain" has also been detected.

“inevitable” spills

The west wind has caused the swell to increase from force four or five to six, especially offshore, according to Aemet forecasts.

This worsening weather has created “difficulties for the response teams on the ground”, according to the Gibraltarian government.

For this reason, the technicians of the private company designated by the bulk carrier's insurance (Resolve Marine Services) and the rescue teams have removed chemicals, paint and soft furnishings from the interior of the bulk carrier.

"The rescue teams are going section by section and cabinet by cabinet to remove as much content as possible," they explain from the Rock.

Despite this effort, Gibraltar has assumed that it will be “inevitable” for spills to escape from the ship, until it can be rescued from the area.

The rescuers have already managed to recover most of the fuel oil from tank 1 (with some 96 tons) and continue with the extraction of number 2, where they believe that there is still oil.

“With the exception of tank 2, the rescuers are confident that all concentrations of pumpable oil have been extracted,” Gibraltar said late on Monday.

Of the 235,154.27 liters declared by the crew of the bulk carrier, the tasks have managed to find 124,000 liters which, in addition to not being definitive, may be altered by the presence of water in the pumped spaces.

The Port Authority of Gibraltar is confident that there may be a discrepancy with what was declared and that it be less.

In fact, they assure that the drone images show how the oil slick next to the ship has been reduced in the last few hours.

In any case,

The controlled stranding of the

It occurred during the early hours of last Tuesday, after the bulk carrier collided with a methane carrier anchored in the vicinity of the port of Gibraltar.

Although, at first, the merchant tried to continue on its route to the Netherlands —the captain even disregarded the orders of the Gibraltar maritime captain, which is why he is being investigated—, the 10 meter long by four meter leak width in the center of the ship made the Gibraltar Port Authority take the ship to Catalan Bay to carry out a controlled stranding in an area 17 meters deep and just over two kilometers from the Levante de La Línea beach.

Both this decision, as well as the request for help from the Spanish Maritime Rescue and the periodic information from the Gibraltarian authorities, have been endorsed by different Spanish authorities that,

Although the fuel oil spills have not materialized as large stains on the Spanish coast, the City Council of La Línea has assured that the situation has already caused the closure of three of the four bivalve fishing grounds, which affects 32 boats.

In addition, the beach bars have already noticed the drop in customers over the weekend, so they are going to ask the Consistory for the early end of the season, as explained by the administration after a meeting with the affected groups.

Mayor Juan Franco has already shown his intention to demand legal responsibilities from those who caused the accident in a complaint in which it is contemplated that the affected groups can be added.

The NGO Greenpeace has had a different view, which last Friday issued a harsh statement in which it accused Gibraltar of being an “ insecure and mafia

gas station that does not comply with Marpol prevention protocols”.

El Peñón described the criticism as "uncertain and slanderous" and assured that the Rock is adhered to the Marpol international agreement to prevent pollution from ships through the United Kingdom.

In addition, he explained that refueling operations on the high seas — known as

— are carried out in a similar way in other Spanish ports and that the Gibraltarian infrastructure "does not offer fiscal advantages in refueling that Spanish ports do not offer, nor a cheaper price than Algeciras”.

When the rescuers manage to recover all the fuel and oils, the key will be deciding how to get the ship out of the area where it is stranded.

The serious damage, apparently, complicates its refloating.

In parallel, investigations into the incident have already begun.

This past Friday, the captain of the sinister ship was released on bail, after being arrested by the Gibraltar police.

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