Abel Losada highlights the great work of the Maritime Captaincy of Vilagarcía to dispatch its intense inspection and administrative activity

The subdelegate of the Government in Pontevedra, Abel Losada, today highlighted the intense work carried out by the Maritime Captaincy of Vilagarcía. He did so during a visit to its premises in which he was accompanied by the maritime captain, Juan Andrés Pérez, and the head of the Pollution area of the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy, Pablo Pedrosa.
The deputy delegate highlighted the heavy workload of the Captaincy, which in the year 2023 processed a total of 3,014 ship registration files in the scope of its demarcation, which in addition to Vilagarcía, also covers the districts of Ribeira, Caramiñal, Cambados and O Grove. In 2023 alone, 27 newly built ships and the transfer of ownership of another 431 were registered. In addition, 100 changed their name and 336 requested the corresponding navigation permissions. Juan Andrés Pérez explained that this volume of activity is explained by the “intense fishing activity and the auxiliary aquaculture industry, with a large number of bateas, in the Ría de Arousa”.
The inspection activity was also significantly increased over the past year. In total, 1,248 ships were inspected from the Captaincy and 2,047 certificates of the various existing types were issued. Twenty inspections were carried out on foreign ships arriving in Vilagarcía for the issuance of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) and 357 inspections were carried out on ships with movement in the different ports of the province. In addition, 374 vessels were temporarily paralyzed and definitely another 4.
In relation to the sanctioning activity of this service, 103 sanctioning files were initiated, of which 96 ended with a motion for a resolution and 73 with a firm resolution.
From this Maritime Captaincy, about 6,000 files relating to nautical qualifications were also dispatched in 2023. Abel Losada stressed that in this office 742 professional titles, 2,541 specialty certificates, 5 nautical fishing titles and 112 other sports titles were issued or renewed. In addition, 660 Maritime Registration Cards (DIM) were issued, which accredit the sailors. In this field, the Captaincy processed during the year approximately 11,000 enroles and unrolls in the respective crews.
The Maritime Captaincy of Vilagarcía develops an intense activity derived from the typology of the boats that operate in the ports of its area, most of them of small and medium size related to the fishing industry. The result of this is that it is the second Captaincy of Spain in terms of volume of certificates and the first in terms of number of inspections.
Abel Losada visited the facilities, located in the port of Vilagarcía, and also shared concerns with the staff of the Maritime Captaincy, where 21 people work. The day ended for the subdelegate at the headquarters of the Port Authority participating in the preparatory session of a simulation exercise of an emergency that is going to be held tomorrow in the port of Vilagarcía and that will be supervised by the head of the Pollution area of the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy.