Gibraltar Bunkering Could Be "Severely Affected" by Brexit: EU Committee Report

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday March 1, 2017

The Port of Gibraltar says the bunker market at Gibraltar could be "severely affected" by Brexit, according to report published today by the House of Lords European Union Committee on the impact of Brexit on Gibraltar.

Commodore Bob Sanguinetti, CEO and Captain of the Gibraltar Port Authority, says 30 percent of Gibraltar's bunker fuel is currently stored in Algeciras, Spain - a situation that creates uncertainty related to the port's bunker supplies.

"Movement of parts, provisions, and labour could affect Gibraltar's attractiveness to visiting ships and place its valuable refuelling business at risk," states the report.

Should Brexit result in increased border restrictions being imposed on Gibraltar in relation to goods imported by sea, Sanguinetti says the port would need to be completely reconfigured.

In June, Sanguinetti told Ship & Bunker that the UK's decision to leave the EU would not change the importance of Gibraltar as a global port, or as a world bunkering hub.