News / MSP: Serco needs to be open about ‘near miss’
SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott has called for Serco NorthLink to be “clear and open with the travelling public” about the recent incident which saw the Hrossey ferry having to swerve to avoid hitting another vessel.
It comes after the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said it would not investigate the near miss, which occurred on the boat’s approach to Kirkwall on Friday 3 July.
The MAIB’s Captain Steve Clinch said he understood Scott’s “frustration over the reaction to the incident from the owners of the Hrossey” and referred to it as a “hazardous incident involving MV Hrossey and the emergency towing vessel Herakles”.
“However, I have to weight the likely lessons for future safety that might accrue from conducting an investigation against, inter alia, the limited resources I have at my disposal.
“After careful consideration, I am not able to commit an investigation team to establish the causes and circumstances of the hazardous incident.”
Captain Clinch said it was only mandatory for the branch to investigate incidents which resulted in “death, sinking or severe pollution, but pointed to other bodies which “may also investigate near-miss incidents” – including the vessel owners and port authorities.
Orkney Islands Council, which owns Kirkwall Harbour, said last week that no near miss incident was reported to it.
MSP Scott said that, while the MAIB would not look into a case in detail unless there was loss of life or an actual collision, islanders would still be looking for proper reassurances from Serco NorthLink.
“Local people, notably those on the Hrossey [that] Friday, will be disappointed that the MAIB are not to fully investigate what they describe as a hazardous incident,” he said.
“It therefore seems unlikely that the travelling public will know exactly what did happen. The onus is on Serco to be clear and open with the travelling public. This is our lifeline service and Shetland depends on a safe, reliable sailing every night.”
Several passengers on board that night described the incident, which took place in flat calm seas and thick fog, as “frightening” and “scary”.
One passenger on board, Hazel Bruce, said it could have been very serious. “With the nature of the boats that we have, if we’d hit that boat I wouldn’t like to think what would have happened,” she said.
After five days of silence on the matter, Serco NorthLink eventually acknowledged that as it approached Hatston Pier, the Hrossey “manoeuvred to ensure safe passing distance from an anchored vessel, causing the vessel to list more than normal”.
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