The government has replied to a question about the Algarve needing a dedicated tugboat, saying 'forget it.'
This has enraged local Communist Party MP Paulo Sá and other members of the CFP who insist that the Algarve’s ports need a tug “to service the expansion of port activities in the region, for the safety of navigation and for environmental protection."
In response to a question from the Parliamentary Group of the Communist Party posed in January this year, the Government answer was that it “rejects the need to provide the Algarve with a tug."
The tug that is meant to service the Algarve is based in Sines, over two hundred nautical miles up the west coast, some ten hours away. The tug is based in Sines because that is where the Algarve’s ports now are managed from, a situation that has upset and angered the Algarve’s maritime community as the government pulls decision making and self-determination from the regions to Lisbon.
Whent the cruise ship Funchal (pictured) sought refuge off Praia da Rocha in January 2014 its passengers were stranded on board as the Sines tug boat, necessary to guide the Funchal into Portimão harbour, had to turn back due to the same poor weather that had caused the Funchal to alter course.
A second tug boat was despatched from Sines which did eventually arrive, but the gap in cover was highlighted and cries for a dedicated tug service have increased since.
The Communist Party sees the allocation of a tug in the Algarve as essential as the Arade at Portimão harbour may one day be dredged to accept larger cruise ships which need tug assistance,, and the port of Faro needs work to help boost the nation’s exports causing a parallel rise in freight traffic which often need a tug’s services.
There simply is more going on along the Algarve’s coastline and a tug would be used for helping international coastal shipping, environmental protection along the coast, supporting fishing vessels and recreational boats, supporting maritime buoys, supporting the Portuguese Navy including search and rescue operations, and combating pollution at sea - especially in the light of offshore Algarve becoming a commercial oil or gas field with rigs and support vessels scudding about.
The Communists say that “due to the confluence of international sea lanes, hundreds of ships pass the Algarve, many of which carry hazardous or polluting materials."
The government's decision "makes the Algarve a vulnerable coastal zone without a tug, and the Government will be blamed in the event of an accident, and for all the consequences - economic, environmental and others - that the absence of a tug will cause.”
Ideally the Communists would like the Sines management decision reversed and the Algarve’s ports to be run from the Algarve, with a tug.
