The PP of the Canary Islands has brought a hot potato to Congress: the maritime security breaches in the islands and the shadow of the Russian ‘dark fleet’ that skirts our coasts. While the popular party demands that the Navy monitor the increase of Russian crude arriving triangulated from other ports, and Coalición Canaria — via Cristina Valido — calls for explanations from the Government, the port employers’ association of Las Palmas accredited with the CEOE has chosen a more convenient enemy: the press. On LinkedIn this Friday, the administrator of Lavinia in the Canary Islands, in the photo, liked the official notice by the digital edited by the NGO Asmepo Infopuertos redistributed by the business organization and not that of independent media like Atlántico Hoy which reported the statement hours earlier.
In a move reminiscent of the management of cholera in the Port of Las Palmas at the beginning of the 20th century — when silence was requested from newspapers to not scare off business — the employer association chaired by J.J. Socas attacks the media. This is the old recipe of prioritizing profit over transparency. It is striking that Fedeport, where foreign operators with cross interests exert influence, targets the messenger but does not dare to retort to the political parties that are saying exactly the same thing in parliamentary sessions.
What about ethics?
The sector defends itself by claiming that it strictly complies with the law. And this may well be the case on paper. However, in the complex landscape of the Ukraine war, legality and ethics no longer go hand in hand. Fedeport’s argument is technically solid but politically naive. Since 2022, the sanctions game is not about importing barrels with the Moscow label but about a tangle of fragmented supplies where the molecule’s origin gets lost along the way.
The employers take pride in mentioning hubs like Tanger Med or Singapore as examples of ‘operational normalcy’. What they do not say is that it is precisely at these points where the legal trap is crafted: product mixing, flag changes, and indirect refining. The European norm distinguishes between the origin stated in a document and the actual origin of the material, a line that is today blurrier than ever.
Relaxation
Fedeport feels relaxed because it has no objections from regulators. But in this business, the fact that authorities have not caught them does not mean that the practice is exemplary. Today, the scrutiny of the port of Las Palmas is not just a customs issue, but a matter of international reputation. The Archipelago is gambling with insurers, banks, and global shipping companies that apply much stricter filters than Spanish law itself.
For the Canary ports, the challenge is not only to prove that their paperwork is in order. It is to demonstrate that their logistical model is not the sieve through which a war conflict is indirectly financed. Less attacks on the press and more real transparency is the only thing that will secure trust in the system.
News written by Pedro Marrero. Edited and verified by José Luis Jiménez. Information cross-checked without institutional filters. This analysis has not been funded by official advertising nor conditioned by lobby interests.
