Salvamento Marítimo, a society dependent on the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility through the General Directorate of the Merchant Navy, has presented at the Real Club Náutico de Castellón the documentary that narrates the historic ‘Operation Woodford’, an unprecedented intervention in Spain. Participating in the event were the director of Salvamento Marítimo, José Luis García Lena, the Government’s sub-delegate in Castellón, Antonia García Valls, the head of the Castellón Rescue Coordination Center, José Javier García García, the head of the SAR and LCC Operations Area, Juan Ferrer García and the director of the documentary ‘Woodford’ (Dionisia Films), Sergi González.
The documentary collects the work carried out since 2009 to eliminate the contamination risk posed by the wreck of the English tanker WOODFORD, sunk in 1937 off the coast of Castellón after being torpedoed by an Italian submarine during the Civil War. Thanks to a complex saturation diving operation in 2012, 450 cubic meters of hydrocarbon that remained in its tanks were extracted, thus preventing periodic spills that began to be detected earlier and that affected the marine environment.
The released film chronicle allows one to learn in detail the phases of this operation, the technology used and the human effort that made possible a milestone in the fight against marine pollution. The director of the documentary, the villarealense Sergi González, has known how to reflect it this way, who stated that “from the moment he discovered the magnitude of Operation Woodford and what could have happened if an environmental catastrophe had occurred, his intention has been to reflect the intervention as a heroic work. It was a story of true heroes.”
Environmental Protection
The director of Salvamento Marítimo, José Luis García Lena, has highlighted the “outstanding operational level demonstrated by Salvamento Marítimo, in a work at the limit to fulfill, once again, one of our commitments: to protect the marine environment.” Furthermore, the event provided information about the last inspection carried out in June 2025, which confirms the stability of the wreck. The tests carried out by Salvamento Marítimo have confirmed that no fuel leaks are observed and that, if there were losses, they would be residual.
The Government’s sub-delegate in Castellón, Antonia García Valls, highlighted during her speech the value of this operation as “an example of State responsibility.” García Valls emphasized that “‘Operation Woodford’ avoided a real ecological disaster a few miles from the Columbretes Islands, demonstrating that the Government does not look the other way in the face of environmental risks, but rather acts with the best technical and human resources.”
Likewise, she also highlighted the continuous surveillance maintained by Salvamento Marítimo, recalling that “the inspection carried out this very summer of 2025 certifies that the work was done well and that our coasts remain safe. This documentary is a well-deserved tribute to the excellence of our public services.”
