MADRID: Spanish Customs authorities are demanding that Greece’s Queensway Navigation pay for a bitumen spill from one of its product tankers at Huelva Port.
Twenty tonnes of bitumen was spilled from the tanker Sunpower (5,000 dwt, built 2008) when one of its cargo tanks overflowed while in port on July 26. Sunpower was detained by the port after authorities found its crew had failed to maintain the required procedures during cargo operations, which led to the spill. Further investigations into the incident are underway.
The Panama-flagged vessel will be released from detention after the money has been received and the clean-up operation has been completed. The port has deployed emergency anti-pollution measures and has surrounded the leaking vessel with oil booms to contain the spill.
