Walter Finch
A US oil tanker ship transporting jet fuel for Israel has entered the Strait after reports it intends to dock in Gibraltar.
The Overseas Santorini was scheduled to reach Algeciras at 3pm on Tuesday afternoon but a flurry of diplomatic pressure appears to have affected its plans.
While the ship has now re-listed its destination as ‘the Mediterranean Sea’, there are fears that it could simply dock in Gibraltar instead.
The ship made a request to dock in the British Overseas Territory yesterday but the response is so far unclear.
The pressure is mounting to deny it entry, however.
A letter from over a dozen cross-party British MPs has been addressed to Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and the British Governor of Gibraltar Sir Ben Bathhurst.
They call on the trio to do ‘everything in your power to prevent and prohibit Gibraltar from being used as a haven for the transport of military fuel used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.’
The tanker is reportedly carrying over 300,000 barrels of fuel from a refinery in Texas sufficient for ‘around 12,000 F-16 [fighter jet] refuelings.’
The letter claims that the trip across the Atlantic is made every two months as part of a US government contract to supply Israel with military grade jet fuel.
“The standard route for transporting JP-8 fuel from Valero’s Corpus Christi refinery in Texas to Israel’s port of Ashkelton includes stops in Algeciras, Spain, and Limassol, Cyprus,” it states.
Pressure from civil society, trade unions and political leaders in Spain had already paid off in scratching Algeciras from its stopover itinerary, the MPs claimed.
The latest movements of the tanker via MarineTraffic indicate that it has already passed Gibraltar, suggesting that it will not stop there.
