A member of the 'Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak' movement ('Welcome to the Refugees') has told Radio Bilbao that over the last three months no ships from Saudi Arabia have docked at Bilbao. Over the previous sixteen months they had loaded 455 containers. According to OEE, social pressure has made them use another port.
Activist groups such as OEE, the feminist movement and Greenpeace have condemned sending container-loads of explosives and war materials to Saudi Arabia from Bilbao port.
They say that the Bahri is the ship taking this type of cargo, and, until recently, it had been doing so once a month.
According to their calculations, since fireman Ignacio Robles refused to load a cargo – for which he was sanctioned – a year and a half has gone by, and during that period 455 containers were transported to Saudi Arabia. However, they believe that there have been no shipments over the last three months and, if that is the case, then it has been due to "social pressure".
They have said that they are going to follow the issue closely and also try to set up a Europe-wide movement opposed to the arms trade.
The aim, they say, is to "create a social critical mass which will expel that type of business".