Although Area 4 is not situated inside a harbour, it is still monitored by Valletta VTS managed by Transport Malta. Bunkering on a ship can be of fuel oil, sludge, diesel oil, cargo etc with fuel or diesel oil requires utmost care and alertness to prevent any kind of fire accident or oil spill. BUNKERING AREA 4 is one of 5 designated areas and it’s the Harbour Master responsible to allocate the bunkering area to be used depending on the weather and wind conditions of that day.
An example of a busy Bunkering Area here we have a report of few hours on Sunday 8th September, 2019 –
The PAN flag ferry IONIAN STAR dropped anchors for uplifting bunkers from Valletta Bunkers –
The 2005 built GRC flag chemical/oil product tanker BASSILEVOUSA awaiting for services –
The 2007 built MLT flag chemical/oil product tanker BOMAR MARS uplifting bunkers from Valletta Bunkers tanker SALINA BAY –
The 1995 built ATG flag general cargo ship GERMAN SKY uplifting bunkers from GoFuels tanker ELAURA –
The 2018 built HKG flag bulker OCEAN OUTSTANDING was being supplied by tanker LS JACOBA –
Another bulker uplifting bunkers this time from GoFuels tanker VANNA was the 2017 built LBR flag vessel PORT VERA CRUZ –
The last vessel to uplift bunkers was the 2016 built MHL flag crude oil tanker STI EXPEDITE with tanker VEMAOIL XXIII –
Photos by Capt. Lawrence Dalli. Do not use these images without my permission. © All rights reserved. Malta Ship Photos & Action Photos – www.maltashipphotos.com
