Sawt Falasteen - Oil spill snarls shipping traffic in Antwerp port

A port statement said the spill occurred during a "bunkering operation" -- the process of filling a ship with fuel -- in the Deurganck Dock, which is used by some of the largest vessels in the world to load and unload goods in Antwerp.

A spokesman told AFP that as of midday Friday the port's North Sea access route via the Scheldt river estuary was "totally blocked", with Belgian media reporting that several dozen container and cargo ships heading in and out had been affected.

"We hope that the port will be fully operational in 24 hours," the spokesman said.

The port statement said the source of the spill had been stopped and the "directly involved seagoing vessels have been contained for active clean-up operations."

However, it said the pollution had spread towards the Scheldt river overnight.

"Emergency services are fully mobilised and are focusing on containment and clean-up operations," it said.

It was not yet clear how much oil had been spilled into the water.

The tidal Scheldt river estuary is the main maritime access route to Antwerp port, along with several narrower canals primarily used for inland navigation.

An AFP team on site saw around 15 stationary ships near the port entrance, though it was not possible to confirm if they were being kept out by the traffic shutdown.

Local media reported that the spill occurred during the refuelling of the container ship MSC Denmark VI.

The ship's operator, MSC, confirmed the vessel was involved in the incident but declined to provide additional information.

"Our priority is safety," a spokeswoman for the company's Belgian office told AFP, adding that they were focused on safeguarding "the crew, the terminal, the nature".

- Key gateway -

Citing a "risk of impact on nearby nature areas", the port said it was "doing everything possible to minimise both operational and ecological damage".

"We regret the impact of this incident on our port and the vulnerable nature areas along the Scheldt," the statement said.

The Pieter Coecke, a Belgian-flagged pollution control vessel, was operating in the area of the spill Friday, according to the Marine Traffic website.

Second only to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the Antwerp port on Belgium's north coast is a key gateway for goods coming into Europe from the United States, China and elsewhere.

Larger than 22,000 football fields, it handles transit each year of around 267 million tonnes of goods and is used by around 20,000 seagoing vessels and 50,000 inland vessels, according to its website.

E.Aziz--SF-PST