MADRID: Spain has detained and fined a Maltese-flagged oil tanker it says discharged oil in open waters near the northeastern port city of Tarragona, a transport ministry department said.

Spain’s Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines have become hubs for shipping activity including the transfer of oil known as ship-to-ship (STS) operations, which industry sources say are becoming an increasing safety concern. Spanish authorities said they had intercepted the Lagertha after a discharge of hydrocarbons was detected by aircraft sensors and satellite radar on Feb 11.

“The slick, in the stern area of the vessel, extended over an area of 12.7 square kilometres,” Spain’s Merchant fleet, a transport ministry department, said on Tuesday in a statement.

It said the vessel was being detained until the owners paid bail of $106,680, adding that on the basis of the evidence, authorities will begin disciplinary proceedings. The Merchant Fleet said that the Lagertha was in open sea and it was unable to measure if there was any environmental damage. The vessel’s Turkey-based manager Besiktas Shipping Group — according to shipping databases and its website — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2021, another tanker was intercepted by Spain for illegally discharging oil at sea over some 55 square kilometres off the coast of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

Separately, the Merchant Fleet said that it had detained another tanker, the Elephant, on Feb 14 after authorities detected “deficiencies of a technical and documentary nature” during an inspection in the northwest port of Ferrol and also for failure to notify Spain’s maritime administration with documents related to STS operations.

Published in Dawn, February 22th, 2023