MADRID: Spain has denied port of call – or temporary docking facility – to a ship carrying ammunition to Israel.
Madrid will not authorise ships carrying weapons for Israel to call at its ports, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said after the country refused to let a ship call at the southeastern port of Cartagena.
According to TRT, the ship was reportedly loaded with 27 tonnes of explosive material from Indian port of Chennai and heading towards Haifa, the port city of Israel.
The ship was the first to be denied access to a Spanish port, Albares said, adding the refusal was consistent with the government’s decision not to grant weapon export licences to Israel since Oct. 7, as Spain doesn’t “want to contribute to war”.
“This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port,” he told reporters in Brussels.
“This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason. The Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace,” he added.
He did not mention the name and origin of the vessel, however Madrid’s prominent news outlet, El Pais said that the vessel Marianne Danica which had requested permission to call at the southeastern port of Cartagena on May 21 which was loaded with ammunition from Chennai, India.
