Ship chandlers & ship supply at Algeciras ESALG

The Port of Algeciras Bay closed 2025 with 100.7 million tonnes of total throughput (down 3.2%) and 4.74 million TEU (up 0.5%), its tenth straight year above 100 million tonnes. Cross-Strait traffic added 6.35 million passengers and about half a million lorries on the Algeciras–Tanger Med line alone.^[1]

—APM Terminals Algeciras: 67 hectares on Juan Carlos I Quay with 17 m drafts and 19 ship-to-shore cranes (8 of them over-super-post-panamax), able to take 18,000 TEU-plus ships.^[2]

—TTI Algeciras, the common-user terminal on Isla Verde Exterior: a 650 m east quay at 18.5 m and a 550 m north quay at 17.5 m, 8 STS cranes and 32 automatic stacking cranes. Its shareholders are HMM (50% plus one share) and, since February 2021, CMA CGM. In July 2025 it filed a Phase B expansion to reach 2.1 million TEU by 2028.^[2,3]

—Liquid bulks behind the bunker trade: Cepsa’s Gibraltar–San Roque refinery (a sea island in 60 m of water for tankers up to 350,000 dwt, plus seven berths on a 1,467 m pier and a barge terminal); Exolum on the North Breakwater, loading barges at up to 500 m³/h; and Vopak Terminal Algeciras on Isla Verde Exterior (403,000 m³ in 22 tanks, a pier for ships up to 225,000 dwt).^[4]

The port authority puts its bunkering case simply: more than 100,000 ships a year pass through the Strait, and the bay offers 1,300 hectares of sheltered anchoring water with good depth, so ships can take fuel at anchor or at berth. The authority says Algeciras leads Spanish ports in ship refuelling, with ship-supply throughput above 3.5 million tonnes, mostly petroleum products, and requires bunker barges to have double hulls and twin screws.^[5]

—The authority’s bunkering page lists Cepsa, Repsol Trading, Peninsula, Bominflot and Aegean as bunkering companies serving the port.^[5]

—Volumes, as of August 2026: 2.06 million tonnes supplied in January–August, 31.3% of all liquid fuel delivered to ships at Spain’s general-interest ports and 2.9% more than a year earlier (Puertos del Estado figures reported by El Estrecho Digital).^[6]

—LNG: Algeciras made its first LNG delivery alongside by truck in 2012 and by barge in 2023. In January 2025 it hosted Spain’s first LNG bunkering at anchor, in Anchorage B, and early that year a barge delivered a record 6,150 m³ to the MSC Thais. Over 2025 it supplied 333,833 m³ of LNG in 78 ship-to-ship operations and 51,923 m³ of bio-LNG, which the port says makes it Europe’s third-largest LNG bunkering port after Rotterdam and Marseille-Fos (Gasnam data).^[7,8]

—Pilotage is compulsory for ships over 500 GT. Exempt are port-authority craft, vessels based in the port that supply or provision ships or provide port services, and ships whose master has served or qualified as a pilot at Algeciras. Anchoring manoeuvres in the port’s Zone II can be exempted for certain ships with approval from the Directorate General of the Merchant Marine (pilotage specifications, BOE 18 July 2025).^[9]

—Pilots board inside south-facing semicircles of 0.7 miles radius: one centred on 36°06′17″N 005°23′49″W for the east face of Isla Verde Exterior, the other on 36°08′51″N 005°23′49″W for the inner basins and berths north of 36°09′15″N. Ships make their first call to the port authority’s Maritime Traffic Control Centre, and pilots are formally ordered at least 20 minutes before boarding. Manoeuvre priority normally follows the order of crossing the Punta Europa–Punta Carnero line.^[9]

—Service providers named by the port authority: the Port of Algeciras Pilots’ Corporation (pilotage), Boluda Corporación Marítima (towage), and Marítima Algecireña and Amarrajes Portuarios (mooring).^[10,11,12]

—The Strait’s GIBREP reporting system (IMO resolution MSC.300(87), in force since 1 December 2010) covers the band between 005°58′W and 005°15′W, which includes Algeciras Bay. Ships of 300 GT and over, ships with hazardous or polluting cargo, and tows must report. Westbound ships report to TARIFA TRAFFIC (VHF 10, with 67 as backup) on crossing 005°15′W. Ships leaving a port or anchorage inside the area report to the nearer of Tarifa and Tangier.^[13]

—Bunkers at anchor or alongside: nominate a supplier through your agent. The port’s pilotage rules exempt locally based supply and provisioning craft from compulsory pilotage.^[5,9]

—MARPOL waste: reception is a regulated port service (collection and, in some cases, storage, sorting and treatment before transfer to an authorised plant). The port authority says Algeciras collects more ship waste than any other Spanish port, at the lowest prices.^[14]

—Repairs: repair afloat is a licensed commercial service in the bay, and the Cernaval yard’s dry dock (400 m overall) takes ships up to 175,000 dwt.^[15,16]

—Provisions, stores and spares: the port authority notes that food, fixtures and spares are supplied to ships berthed or anchored in its waters. Post a requirement and suppliers serving Algeciras answer with sealed bids; suppliers never see the vessel’s name until award. If you supply ships in the bay, activate Algeciras.^[17]