The captain of the cruise ship Funchal decided to make an unscheduled visit to Portimão for the safety of his passengers and crew as the west coastal seas to Lisbon are too heavy for comfort.
Good news indeed for the shops and cafes of Portimão as 400 passengers were expected to spend some retail and recovery time in the Algarve in a city that has set itself up as a port of call on many cruise company schedules.
One small problem, the nearest tugboat to guide the 155 metre liner into harbour was in Sines, way up the west coast, so the Funchal has sat at anchor in rough seas off Praia da Rocha since yesterday afternoon.
The newly refurbished cruise ship is carrying New Year revellers but on leaving Madeira the Funchal should have safely docked in Lisbon by now but the huge seas along Portuga’s west coast forced the liner to seek shelter in Portimão, to no avail.
After a frank and open discussion between the new mayor of Portimão and the government, Isilda Gomes was eventually offered a tugboat from the west coast port of Setúbal, further north still than Sines. The tugboat duly set off and had to turn back due to the predictably heavy seas.
A second tugboat then left Setúbal at 05.00 am on Sunday morning and is scheduled to reach Portimão at 21.00 on Sunday night. Only then can the cruise ship enter the port and land the passengers many of whom, if sober enough, will make their way to Lisbon by land.
“This shows the exhaustion of the Algarve and Portimão harbour which is in urgent need of a tugboat," said mayor Isilda Gomes who added that this was not exactly a new request.
Gomes phoned the office of the Secretary of State for Transport to try to solve the problem. The port of Sines should theoretically fully support two of the Algarve’s major ports, Portimão and Faro, but clearly has failed to come anywhere near and the suggestion that a tugboat could come from Cadiz was shelved as ridiculous.
"This case shows that Sines has not, in fact, any ability to meet the needs of the port of Portimão," added Gomes who is keenly aware of the strategic location of Portimão with vessels often coming from Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean all making the turn at Cape St Vincent, “If this were a ship in distress how would we resolve the problem? It is clear that Sines can not help us."
Sousa Coutinho from maritime union OFICIAISMAR has asked the government for at least one tugboat for the Algarve on the grounds of maritime safety.
"The Algarve coast should always have a tugboat based in Portimão so that these situations are a thing of the past," said Coutinho who believes that the Algarve is a "deserted region in terms of maritime safety. In winter, a region such as the Algarve should have always have a tugboat on stand-by, but there is nothing in the Algarve and the tugboats that are in Sines, Setúbal and Lisbon can not get to Portimão in time if there is an emergency.”
In August last year in one of his first acts as Economy Minister a fresh-faced Pires de Lima pledged €10 million of state funding for upgrades to Portimão’s port over the coming four years and a tugboat. His plan to cover the Algarve ports from a base on the west coast of Portugal was always suspicious and has failed.
Port officials in the Algarve are asking whether the much-needed tugboat has been ordered yet.
