| Incident | : Oil Spill |
| Date | : Thursday, 10th September 2015 |
| Location | : Malta Freeport |
| Cause | : Failure of hose |
Transport Malta Personnel were alerted about an oil spill on 10th September. They immediately boomed basins of terminal 1 and 2 to arrest the spill from spreading to public beaches and began coordinating clean-up operations. The area was kept segregated and clean-up operations began to minimise third party loss. The authorities did not reveal the size of the spill.
The initial investigations pointed toward a failed hose during a vessel bunkering operation. The disconnected hose spilt oil on board the bunker barge and some amount of oil also drifted toward the inner side of the basin, affecting some berthed vessels. The bunker operator took immediate action to boom the vessels and contain the spill. The port authorities supervised the cleanup operations that the bunker operators undertook.
This oil spill affected the shipping traffic that was kept suspended till authorities ensured that the port was safe for navigational activities to resume.
Malta Freeport, an international port on the island of Malta is one of busiest ports in Europe.
Source: Transport Malta News
