The Porto Santo Line responded today to Chega’s claim that the Lobo Marinho was transporting fuels it wasn’t certified to carry, assuring that it routinely transports various types of cargo, including fuels, whether classified as standard or requiring prior analysis and authorisation (with the necessary documentation and/or oversight from the relevant authorities when required). The company emphasised that it strictly follows all international legal obligations and safety measures concerning its passengers, crew, and cargo.
The company says that “Insinuations of the existence of a potential danger, without any factual basis and based on ‘visual elements,’ are nothing but alarmism, which is already disproved and the accusations repudiated,” categorically states the Executive Director of Porto Santo Line, Carlos Perdigão, referring to the technical explanation of the matter, quoted below:
“The Porto Santo Line clarifies the following:
- Confirms the transport, in a tanker, of Jet A (Jet A, Jet A-1), IMDG Code classified product with the UN UN Code 1863 with Class III;
- This transport is carried out observing all the strict safety criteria for this type of cargo, according to the SOLAS Convention (Safety of Life at Sea), which is the most important international treaty on maritime safety;.
- Strictly complies with MARPOL 73/78 (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), which is the IMO (International Maritime Organisation) main international treaty created to minimise operational and accidental pollution of the oceans by ships;
- Complies with the provisions of the IMDG Code (International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code), developed by the IMO, this being the standard International Mandatory for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by sea, where classification, packaging, labeling, documentation, and stevedoring, aiming to protect the crew and the environment;
- All dangerous cargo, whether this or another, is monitored by a compliance document attesting to the characteristics of the cargo to transport and which is the subject of analysis by the Command on the ship, in order to assess and confirm that it can be transported inside the N/M Lobo Marinho, without any risk to the passenger, its passengers, and the crew.
- Cargo incompatible with the presence of passengers (e.g. the shipment of explosives, certain types of diluents, gasoline, or gas) is transported to Porto Santo Island by a container ship, thus ensuring the total supply of the island, fully complying with all international safety rules.
In the PSL statement, it is recalled that “the Parliamentary Group of the ‘Chega’ Madeira party, through of a statement, informs that it will submit a request to the Government Regional Office of Madeira on the ‘alleged’ (terminology used by the Group Parliamentary) transport of aviation fuel on the ship N/M Lobo Marinho,” recalling that in the same text “it is mentioned that the initiative comes after the party had access to ‘visual elements’ that indicate the disembarkation, in Porto Santo, of a tanker truck allegedly containing aviation fuel.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
And he also stresses, quoting Chega that he considers “it is necessary to have a clarification, by the Executive, on this subject, reinforcing that ‘the maritime transport of dangerous goods, namely fuels and flammable liquids, is subject to specific safety rules, certification, declaration, communication to the authorities, stevedoring and segregation'”.
Given the above, the company clarifies and proves that it complies with all legal requirements for the transport of said fuels, thus refuting the party’s complaint.
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