It raises several questions: What sort of ‘vessels’? What if they were engaged on industry duty when a maritime emergency arose? How long will it take them to arrive on the scene? And an incident which took place in Shetland on 20th December that ForArgyll argues underlines and reinforces the need for an independent tug provision in northern waters, that is able to act immediately.

Shetland Island Council operates a fleet of 6 tugs in the major oil harbour of Sullom Voe. The newest pair are the 1 year old Spanish-built  Solan and Bonxie, plagued by ongoing reliability problems.
Solan, taking a shuttle tanker, Loch Rannoch working the Schiehallion oil field, out clear of Jetty 4 in the harbour. Solan, preparing to slip her tow, still attached to Loch Rannoch, without warning, lost both propulsion and controls.

Her stern was struck by the tanker’s bow, at about 5 knots and still roped to her, Solan banged down the side of Loch Rannoch’s hull. Then. equally without warning, the tug’s systems came back into operation and under control. Fortunately, because the tanker was on her way out, she had some ability to slow her speed. This meant that the tug crewmen were uninjured.

But had the weather been bad or Solan bringing in a fully loaded tanker at greater speeds, the weight of impact would probably have led to fatalities, and could have seen an out of control tanker collide with shore installations, with potentially substantial environmental consequences. Had Solan been hit amidships, she could have sunk or rolled over.

The Clyde's maritime community remembers too well April 2007 when the tug, Flying Phantom, towing bulk carrier Red Jamine in fog, was struck by her, pulled over and sunk, with the loss of  three lives.

The two new Shetland tugs due to go onto dry dock to have their hulls modified, in response to handling difficulties, when this accident happened. Both have now been withdrawn from service.
It is  not yet known whether they will return to service when this particular issue seems resolved. or whether they will stay out of service until their first annual inspection falls due.

As two of the most powerful tugs in the world – with a bollard pull of 90 tonnes, they were delivered a year late and in pre-delivery trials had steering and exhaust problems. In service, there have been difficulties with their handling under speed and with their winches.

This situation sees a major oil port, off Scotland’s north coast, dealing steadily with fully loaded shutttletankers coming in from the oil field  – with one third of its tug fleet out of service for the foreseeable future.

Has this situation – well known since these two tugs entered service (Solan lost power on 14th August 2011 while bringing the loaded tanker Penelope into Sullom Voe), been factored into the decision to withdraw the two coastguard tugs from  northern waters in under three months time? Or, ponders ForArgyll, is this just a blind spot of the UK government’s shipping minister, (right) Mike Penning?