Greenpeace Board Spanish Coal Freighter

Activists from the environmental organisation Greenpeace boarded a ship off the Spanish Gijon coast.

The ship named the “Windsor Adventure”, is carrying 54,000 tons of coal from Colombia, and the intention of the protestors was to warn about the effects of the fuel on climate change.

The operation, which began at dawn yesterday, involved eight members of the organisation, divided into two groups.

The freighter, which is a very large 190 meters long and has a 15 meter draft, was approached by four activists who climbed up the towers of the ship, where they remained until the entry of the cargo ship at the port of Gijon, according to a press conference by representatives of Greenpeace.

In addition, the ship’s hull was painted with slogans by another group of Greenpeace activists.

Environmentalists who were aboard the coal ship tried to deploy a banner from the top of the mast, but failed to do so when ordered by the Spanish Guardia Civil to disembark from the ship.

The environmental organisation today presented simultaneously in Madrid and Gijon, a report entitled “Coal in Spain, a black future”, which warns that this material bears the biggest responsibility for climate change.

The environmental organisation said that the twenty-two power stations in Spain provide 23 percent of electricity generation and 64 percent of CO2 emissions from the sector.

In a few weeks, famous Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior will cruise the length of the Mediterranean preaching the “quit coal” message.