News / In brief for 14 May 2010
Fruit and veg boat towed in
A CARGO boat carrying five tonnes of fruit and vegetables to Faroe broke down off Orkney on Thursday morning.
Shetland coastguard helicopter Rescue 102 and emergency towing vessel Anglian Sovereign were launched and stood by as the Orkney tug Harald went to the scene five nautical miles north west of Westray.
After successfully attaching a tow rope, the Silver Fjord and its 10 crew were expected to arrive at Kirkwall by 11pm on Thursday night.
Speed campaign
NORTHERN Constabulary will be stepping up traffic patrols at the weekend as part of a campaign to get drivers to slow down.
The three day Country Roads campaign begins on Friday with extra officers on the road looking out for drivers going to fast or driving dangerously.
The police say that 70 per cent of fatal road collisions occur in non-built up areas and more than half of motorcycle accidents resulting in death or serious injury happen on country roads.
Chopper base
THE NEW emergency helicopter landing site at Lerwick’s Clickimin will be officially opened on Wednesday 26 May.
The new site will be used by Shetland coastguard when delivering medical emergencies to the Gilbert Bain Hospital
Trust grants
SHETLAND Charitable Trust has handed out grants worth more than £10,000 to community organisations during April.
West Sandwick public hall receives £668 for new tables; Shetland Needleworkers received £369 towards the cost of a two day embroidery workshop at Voxter; and grants worth £9,351 were given to seven senior citizen clubs to help with their running costs.
The voluntary groups themselves had to raise more than £11,000 themselves towards their own expenditure.
All Energy 2010
THE FIRST full economic valuation ever undertaken of Britain’s offshore renewable resource will be presented on the opening morning of next week’s All Energy 2010 conference, the biggest renewable energy event in the UK.
Become a member of Shetland News
Over two days from Wednesday to Friday (19-21 May) almost more than 270 speakers will be highlighting the world of offshore wind, bioenergy, wave and tidal devices, hydropower, hydrogen and fuel cells, microgeneration and onsite renewables for homes business, communities and farmers.
Crucial to the conference will be three sessions about finance and funding – one a financing and commercialising networking event, a second looking at public funding of the low carbon landscape, and a third looking at the funding of large projects.
The events main sponsor is Swedish energy firm Vatenfall, who have their eyes on developing a wave farm off Shetland mainland’s west coast.
TAQA doing well
THE ABU Dhabi National Energy Co, which owns TAQA UK who own one quarter of Sullom Voe oil terminal, reported a sevenfold increase in profits during the first quarter with the rise in crude prices.
The company is expanding its operations in the North Sea with new drilling to take place, the company said.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -
- Remove non-local ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.