High Power – Boiler Blasts Off Gibraltar

A tanker operated by Tokyo-based JX Shipping exploded on Friday off Rosia Bay, Gibraltar which echoed across the town.  This is the second explosion to hit the small territory in just over a year.

According to local port officials the vessel, a 28,245 GRT Panamanian flagged product tanker High Power, was at anchor and taking on fuel from the 4609 GRT bunker tanker Aegean Princess at the time of the explosion. The crews of both vessels escaped without injury and amazingly enough, no pollution was reported.

“Within minutes the ship declared that everything was under control and that no assistance was required,” the Gibraltar Government said: “All rescue units were then stood down.”

According to the Gibraltar Chronicle,  inspectors from the Gibraltar Maritime Administration were quick to board the vessel, survey the damage and declare the vessel safe. Initial reports from the crew suggest the explosion came from the ship’s auxiliary steam boiler.

The vessel was built in 2004 and, in 2010, was written up by Coast Guard inspectors in New York for deficiencies in its cargo and communications systems.