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Strong case for ruling out ship-to-ship oil transfers in Firth of Forth, says SNP

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Published Date: 25 May 2007
RICHARD Lochhead, Scotland's Environment Secretary, yesterday said there was a strong case for ruling out plans to allow oil tankers to transfer Russian crude from ship-to-ship in the Firth of Forth. He also announced his firm intention that parliament would have final say over the issue.
Environmentalists claim allowing the procedure would risk an oil spill that would devastate wildlife in the Forth.

In a statement to Holyrood, Mr Lochhead stressed the issue was a priority but added the Executive had to consider all the options a
nd avoid unintended consequences from over-hurried legislation.

He came under attack from Labour's Rhona Brankin for a "wishy-washy" statement that did not spell out what action would be taken to stop ship-to-ship transfer.

Forth Ports, which retained its role as the regulatory authority when it was privatised, is considering an application from a shipping company, SPT Marine Services, to carry out ship-to-ship transfer of nearly eight million tonnes of crude oil a year.

It has said it will discuss the plan with the Executive and Scottish Natural Heritage, but the decision is up to Forth Ports. Mr Lochhead said he had made it "very, very clear" to the company that parliament expects the firm will not make a decision before MSPs have considered the issue. He added: "There would appear to be a strong case for ruling out new ship to ship oil transfers in the Firth of Forth."



The full article contains 259 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

 
1

I'm no really here,

25/05/2007 00:47:49

If Forth Ports consider giving the go-ahead, simply require that all such transfers will require a licence granted be the Executive. Tell them to do the transfers down in the Thames estuary, or the Severn.

2

Phyl,

Edinburgh 25/05/2007 10:08:33

Nice to see people starting to listen to what the Greens have been saying for around a year or so now about Ship-to-Ship.....

3

Retired mariner,

Elgin 25/05/2007 10:52:43

The ill-informed debate around ship to ship saddens me so much in our so called educated society. To say there could be major oil spills is simply NOT CORRECT. I believe I am right in saying that due to the valve process in operation there is no record of there being a major spill from this cause ANYWHERE in the world. These transfers go on all over the world including off the coast of Scotland and have done without event for years. Noticeably there has been noone writing from areas where they currently take place saying how bad they are, how worried they are etc. Surely the biggest worry from spills pespective is COLLISSION but we dont see the greens worrying or trying to make shipping traffic an issue because it is not a vote winner.

Looking in we have worldwide interest as Scotland begins its rebirth..what do we see first?? Anything positive...not alot! Just a big fat NO. Look up into your skies ...look into your ports....watch what HGV vehicles are carrying on our` roads everyday and then consider where your priorities lie. Read the reports....look at the facts...have the debate but dont embarrass yourselves with ignorance.

4

Bruce Wayne,

Gotham Ciy 25/05/2007 11:39:34

If there's no risk of a spill (#3), then why has IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committe (MEPC) agreed to consider the development of amendments to MARPOL to prevent the risk of pollution during oil transfer operations between ships at sea? (http://www.imo.org/)

And please don't make the mistake of thinking that only Greens and the SNP are concerned. Members of other parties are equally opposed, but perhaps slightly less extravagant in their public statements. The fact is that there is no quick & easy answer to address the situation - as shown by the lack of any clear strategy to back up the Executive's rhetoric.

I personally think that Forth Ports would be delighted to hand this problem over to someone else. There's not a lot in it for them, except one big headache.

5

Baron Stroud,

Treasure Island 25/05/2007 23:26:14

SPT Marine, the applicant for Ship to ship is 50% owned by TEEKAY SHIPPING ( just Google TEEKAY + SPT + SECINFO ) TEEKAY is the 10th biggest tanker company in the world, and owns many of the shuttle tankers operating in the Baltic and the North Sea.....but their HQ is in the Marshall Islands, with many of the tankers reg'd in Bermuda. They own 200 tankers(TEEKAY.COM)
The LABOUR controlled Scottish Executive gave TEEKAY(Glasgow) a GRANT of £1,990,000 ( YES!) in Dec 2006 ( But in Dec 2005 TEEKAY(Glasgow)'s annual turnover was only £1,200,000 ) Their only UK Director lives in Airdrie.......( Just Google TEEKAY + RSA + GLASGOW) Perhaps someone can join the dots for me?? Can we all get multi-million GRANTs for organising Ship to Ship Transfers in the Forth? Next week we find out about TEEKAY's amazing accident record...
Forget about SPT's 35,000 gallons,..........a mere teacupful compared to TEEKAY's. The real oil spill risk is from the tankers themselves. As they say follow the money.....

6

Verity,

Ipswich 26/05/2007 14:41:57

Baron Stroud

Oil spills in relation to ship to ship transfer is what we are talking about here and not oil spills per se.

Your argument would seem to back the need for more checks and balances in relation to this proposal, which any reasonable company will be willing to do/ provide. I agree with #3 My concern comes when we have universal damnation of any proposal based on incorrect information. By all means say no to something but make sure the decision is based on fact about the actual matter in hand or else you are no better than the people you seek to criticise.


 

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