Gibraltar Port responds to oil spill incident in the Bay

The Captain of the Port has suspended operations at the Gibraltar Port this morning following an oil spill incident in the bay.

The Gibraltar Port Authority has initiated its oil spill contingency plan in conjunction with the Department of Environment and response operations are currently underway. Spanish authorities have been notified as part of the automatic procedure.

The incident occurred at approximately 8:22am in the southern part of the Western Anchorage, when a vessel taking bunkers experienced an overflow of its tanks. The quantities of oil are currently unquantified.

The Department of Environment are closely monitoring developments and lifeguards are on alert for oil on the Western shoreline. Red flags are flying at Camp Bay and Little Bay as it is expected that some oil will reach the shore in these areas. Bathers are urged to be cautious even if Yellow flags are flying.

Caution is also advised for those at sea on pleasure boats and when fishing from a boat or from shore.

The Port Authority called off all port operations to ensure every asset was available to help combat the spillage and tackle the incident as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Quantifying the amount of oil released into the bay is not currently the main priority as this can be misrepresented at this stage of the clean-up process. This data will be gathered throughout and the final figures will be made available once the clean-up operations have been concluded.

Early indications that the impact of the oil spill has been limited to the area of Camp Bay and Rosia Bay and its immediate vicinity have been confirmed by drone footage obtained this morning, and by a Spanish helicopter overflight this afternoon.

There have not been any sightings of any free floating streaks of oil moving away from this area, however this is being continuously monitored and may change with the tides.