Mar 26 - Picardo Witnesses Ship-to-Ship LNG Transfer Process
The Chief Minister this afternoon joined senior Port Authority staff and Ministers Cortes and Balban aboard the Environment Department's launch to witness first hand, one of the first LNG ship-to-ship transfers out in the bay.
Atop choppy seas and beneath relatively grey skies, the journey into the bay served to cement the Government’s belief that this ship to ship transfer of Liquid Natural Gas is a completely safe process. Mr. Picardo insisted that they could ‘come up right next to these vessels, smell absolutely nothing, see that there is absolutely no spill of anything and understand just how safe these procedures are.
Deputy Captain of the Port Manuel Tirado insisted that the procedure was extremely safe, with the vessel having a ‘very stringent protocol’ and the Port Authority also supervising the process. 
This was only the second process to be carried out in Gibraltar. Mr. Picardo explained that he felt it was important to see the process carried out by two of the most modern and state of the art merchant ships in the World that can transfer liquid natural gas between them.
Picardo insisted that BGTW proved a prime location to carry these transfers out due to the shelter of the Bay its placing at the cross roads to the Mediterranean. Regarding the safety of the process and the Port Authority’s ability to manage it, Mr. Tirado commented that members of staff were trained under the Tanker Safety Protocol, dealing with oil and gas and chemicals. He added that the Bunkering Superintendents were both very qualified having carried out courses in the UK. With various staff members having undergone training on the matter Mr. Tirado insisted that this way the Authority ‘ensures that they understand what the nature of the operation is.’
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