A court in Barcelona has launched a preliminary investigation into two ship captains of the Danish shipping company Maersk for their alleged role in the supply chain of transporting weapons to Israel through Spanish ports.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has been among the most vocal European critics of Israel’s actions in Gaza, froze arms dealings with Israel after the conflict erupted following the deadly attack launched by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023. ALSO READ: Spain to present resolution at UN General Assembly to ‘stop killing’ in Gaza.
The investigation opened by a Barcelona court follows a complaint filed by the Catalan platform ‘Prou complicitiat amb Israel’ (‘Stop Complicity with Israel’). The court issued an order last Wednesday instructing Maersk’s logistics subsidiary in Spain to identify the captains of the vessels Nexoe and Detroit, so they could testify before the investigating magistrate on Monday.
The Nexoe was scheduled to dock again at the Port of Barcelona on Monday before continuing its route to Morocco.
In a court order dated 7 May, a judge in Barcelona formally requested that Maersk Logistics & Services Spain, SLU – Maersk’s logistics subsidiary in Spain – identify the captains of the ships Nexoe and Detroit.
The court notes described the ‘possible existence of a criminal offence’ and ordered Maersk’s Spanish subsidiary to also provide the identity of the company’s legal representative, in order to potentially ‘take their statement as a suspect, if necessary’.
According to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), Monday’s planned hearing was then suspended at the request of the captains’ legal counsel due to scheduling conflicts with other previously arranged proceedings.
The Nexoe vessel had also docked in Barcelona on 15 April. At that time, the ‘Stop Complicity with Israel’ platform filed a complaint with the court requesting the ship’s detention and inspection, citing its possible involvement in the weapons supply chain to Israel.
‘This is a supply chain that feeds the genocide in Palestine,’ the platform’s representatives said. However, the judge rejected the request, and the Nexoe continued its journey. Its final destination was not disclosed on Maersk’s website at the time, but it was later confirmed to have reached the Israeli port of Haifa, after stops in Valencia, Casablanca, Algeciras, and Tangier.
The Detroit vessel arrived from the US in Tangier, Morocco, in April, where it coincided with the Nexoe following the latter’s stops in Barcelona, Valencia, and Algeciras. The Maersk vessel is reportedly part of the US military’s Maritime Security Programme.
According to the platform’s complaint, the Detroit transports F-35 fighter jet components from the US and unloads them in Tangier, where the Nexoe allegedly picks them up to deliver to Haifa. The platform raised this complaint during the vessels’ April stops in Spanish ports.
According to a report in Spain’s El Diario online newspaper, Foreign Ministry sources said in April that ‘in accordance with the policy announced by the government in May 2024 in response to the crisis in Gaza, no requests for transit of defence material destined for Israel have been approved’.
However, the paper also reported that is is not the first time Maersk has faced accusations of involvement in weapons shipments to Israel. In a November 2024 investigation carried out by elDiario.es, eleven more Maersk ships carrying arms for Israel were scheduled to stop in Spain. In response, two of them altered course, substituting Algeciras with Tangier as their port of call – an adjustment later mirrored by other vessels.
Arms shipments to Israel are considered crucial to its on-going operations in Gaza. Over the past 19 months, the US has continued to send large volumes of military supplies to Israel via various routes. Spain’s geographic location makes it a strategic point for some of these shipments.
The 600 organisations behind the ‘Stop Complicity with Israel’ campaign argue that the continued use of Spanish ports by ships involved in arms trading with Israel is ‘further proof that the Spanish government has not enacted a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel – and must do so immediately’. They also stress that ‘Israel cannot commit genocide on its own; it does so with the complicity of our institutions and the inaction of the relevant authorities’.
The Spanish Interior Ministry also recently scrapped a €6.8 million ammunition contract with Israeli company IMI Systems, represented in Spain by Guardian Homeland Security, which was set to supply bullets for Spain’s Guardia Civil police. ALSO READ: Spain scraps €6.8m ammunition order from Israeli company after uproar.
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Un juzgado de Barcelona llama a declarar a dos capitanes de barcos implicados en el comercio de armas con Israel https://t.co/9ewKAcBF7J Informa @olgarodriguezfr
— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) May 12, 2025
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