Scottish ETV debate rumbles on

January MJ reported on the awarding of a five-year contract to Ardent Maritime Netherlands BV to provide an ETV to cover Scottish waters. The service is provided by the Italian-flagged and owned tug Ievoli Black and part of the new arrangement is that it is expected to take on more of a patrolling role than its predecessor.

Local communities however have always campaigned for a second vessel to cover Scottish waters, as was the case before the UK’s ETV fleet was cut from four to one and now north east Scotland daily paper The Press & Journal has reported that Western Isles MP Angus MacNeil is calling on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to keep an official record of all ‘near misses’ in the Minch.

It comes following a report that a large cargo ship was adrift off the Butt of Lewis recently for three hours. Mr MacNeil is quoted in the paper as saying: ‘These incidents come to light from time to time, I understand that this incident with the cargo ship happened last week yet there is no official record of such an incident – how many other ‘near misses’ do we not know about?’

Mr MacNeil describes the ETV as an ‘insurance policy’ needed to protect lives and the environment. He points out that it is not only cargo ships that use Scottish waters but that cruise ships are also welcomed in the islands and that they also need to know that in the event of an incident help is at hand adding: ‘… We have no insurance policy in our islands and this is a huge concern.’

By Peter Barker