13th January 2011

The ESG welcomes the news of the VTS system finally being introduced in the Port of Gibraltar. The group also expects that the new safety cushion created by the system on the present level of shipping should not once again be eroded by increasing the amount of shipping. This is akin to the refinery reducing air emissions per ton of oil processed but then increasing its capacity to negate this and even add more pollution.

If traffic is increased so that there is a greater concentration of shipping around Gibraltar this will further reduce the distance between ships and/or the reaction time available to the Port to react to a crisis situation which will make serious shipping incidents very likely.

The ESG adds that we might have an immaculate record of what happened and how it happened but the incident will not have been avoided.

The group takes this opportunity of urging the Gibraltar Government to rethink current plans to expand bunkering activity to the eastern side of the Rock