News / Coastguard union condemns ETV removal
THE SHETLAND coastguard branch of the PCS union has condemned the UK government’s determination to withdraw emergency towing cover from around the UK’s coast by the end of the month.
The move was against the advice and opposition from local authorities, commercial towage and salvors, public opinion and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s own report, commissioned in 1998, the union said.
Last week, in a statement to the UK parliament’s select committee on transport, the department of transport confirmed that the contract for the four emergency towing vessels (ETVs) would come to an end on 30 September.
A PCS spokesman said that withdrawing the ETVs at a time of more extreme winter weather would “inevitably” result in more shipping accidents.
The union then went on to question the validity of some of the statements made by the UK government in relation to providing alternative emergency cover in the waters around Shetland and Orkney.
They said that the tugs stationed at the oil port of Sullom Voe were harbour tugs with an insufficient bollard pull and not designed to operate in the deep sea and in hostile weather conditions.
Utilising offshore support vessels for the task of providing emergency cover was also unrealistic, as these vessels were again not tugs and secondly on specific duties to the oil industry and could not necessarily be released in an emergency, the professional coastguards continued.
The next commercially available tugs were stationed in Aberdeen, a “significant distance” away from the waters around Shetland and Orkney, the PCS said.
They added: “Yet again the government has chosen to completely ignore the professional opinion of serving coastguards who work with the ETVs and the commercial towage industry on a regular basis.
“We would therefore question how this decision could be properly informed if they have not consulted those whose job it is to protect our coastline on a day-to-day basis.”
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