Post by ferryfast admin on Jan 27, 2006 22:07:08 GMT -5
27 January 2006
Call for new ferries for Northern Isles
Shetland Times Online
A LEADING academic has called for the Northern Isles ferries Hjaltland and Hrossey to be replaced after branding them among the most inefficient ships built in recent years.
A hard-hitting report by Alf Baird of Napier University's Transport Research Institute concludes that replacing the Hjaltland, Hrossey and two cargo vessels operated by NorthLink with two larger ferries would save £10m a year.
"This would virtually double present freight/car capacity at no additional cost and offers scope for adding more cabins on a longer hull," the report claims.
"The specific cost saving is equivalent to in excess of £60m over each six-year contract period giving a saving of some £554m over the 25-year expected lifetime of a ship.
"The Hjaltland and Hrossey appear to be two of the most inefficient and environmentally unfriendly ships built in recent years by virtue of their single freight deck, extremely high installed power and hence very high fuel consumption relative to payload."
The report also claims it would be necessary to use Peterhead and Rosyth rather than Aberdeen because Aberdeen harbour is unable to accommodate 186-metre ferries.
According to Dr Baird ferries would need to have a length at least 186 metres to make real savings. Even ships with a length of around 165 metres (the same length as the Smyril Line ferry Norröna) are fuel inefficient.
Ferries of around 186 metres would also be cheaper to buy as they are mass produced on production lines at shipping yards around the world whereas smaller ferries have to be custom-built at greater expense.
Commissioned by the EU-funded Northern Maritime Corridor (NMC) project, the report was brought to the attention of the SIC's infrastructure committee on Tuesday by councillor Leslie Angus, Shetland's representative at NMC meetings.
Describing the Hjaltland and Hrossey as "unfit for purpose" Mr Angus said: "Given the critical importance of sea transport to Shetland we should discuss this report as soon as possible and should make representations to the Scottish Executive."
Councillors agreed to invite Dr Baird to the next meeting of the committee to discuss the report.
SIC transport spokesman Gordon Mitchell welcomed the report but said he was surprised that there was no mention of the possibility of using Aberdeen's outer harbour to accommodate larger ferries.
When the Hjaltland and Hrossey were commissioned five years ago, NorthLink Ferries and the Scottish Executive were told by Aberdeen Port Authority that the maximum length of the ferries would be restricted to 125m unless the ferry terminal was moved to the east end of the Jamieson Quay.
According to NorthLink chief executive Bill Davidson ferries of up to 165m could have been built if the decision had been taken to relocate the ferry terminal.
"If you were to start with a clean sheet of paper and you prepared to go to Peterhead or Rosyth you might well have built the size of vessels mentioned in this report but those were not the ground rules set down in 1998," he said.
"Following public consultation the decision was taken to keep going to Aberdeen even though Invergordon had been making a pitch.
"At that time we weren't able to justify larger boats and 125m boats seemed to be adequate. To some extent we have been the victim of our own success.
"We have grown passenger numbers by 54 per cent and would now be able to justify larger boats on the route.
"There might well be something in this report but quite a number of the figures are estimates and a proper options appraisal is needed."
According to Dr Baird, Aberdeen Harbour Board fiercely resisted the idea of relocating the ferry terminal when the idea was first mooted five years ago.
Although 165m boats had entered Aberdeen harbour once or twice in the past a tug was needed to bring the boats in, Dr Baird said.
The only way of bringing 186m boats into the harbour would be by extending the harbour walls, he added.
Other harbours around the UK, most recently Great Yarmouth, have rebuilt their harbour walls to accommodate larger vessels but such a project would take years of planning and construction work.
Next month the Scottish Executive is expected to name the preferred bidder to operate the Northern Isles ferry routes for the next six-year contract.
The Executive was forced to retender the routes after it emerged that NorthLink had been swallowing twice as much government subsidy as originally expected.
NorthLink had been awarded the contract to take over the routes from P&O from October 2002 after putting in a bid to run the service for a subsidy of £1m a month but has so far received more than £78m from the Executive to keep going.
According to Dr Baird, the inefficiency of the current NorthLink fleet may be one of the main reasons for the need for the extra cash handouts.
Transport minister and Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said the council had been consulted on the specification for the new contract and had insisted on keeping Aberdeen as the main port of call on the mainland.
"The SIC was fully involved in the contract specification," he said. " I hope they are not going to argue to rip up the contract at this stage. It is not realistic.
"Local people wouldn't understand it given all the uncertainty if we were to start again. For the future I am very happy to look at new ideas on how the service can be improved.
"There is a proper debate to be had but we shouldn't do it on the basis of one academic report. I think this is an interesting contribution to the debate but it is only one contribution."
Captain Mitchell said that the council did not expect Mr Scott to change the specification for the contract at this late stage of the tendering process but hoped that new ships to replace the Hjaltland and Hrossey would be built before the next six-year contract gets under way in 2012.
"We wouldn't expect to move from Aberdeen to Peterhead but we would expect the possibility of using the outer harbour in Aberdeen to have been examined," he said.
Capt Mitchell said that the idea of moving to Peterhead would not be supported by the council as the north-east port did not have good road and rail links to the rest of the country.
He also added that it was surprising that the Scottish Executive itself did not seem to have examined whether the use of two large ferries would save money.
"I would expect there would be considerable savings," he said. "We have always thought that Aberdeen has been slow to react to change in the way shipping is moving in the North Sea.
"They have concentrated on the oil industry in the last few years but North Sea oil is drying up and they have to start encouraging other vessels to come to Aberdeen.
"If Aberdeen wants to stay viable as a port they need to think about providing better facilities."
The SIC submitted its response to the Executive's consultation on the Northern Isles ferry contract in July 2004.
At the end of a seven-week consultation exercise, the council backed the idea of keeping Aberdeen as the mainland port for the Shetland ferry service although it claimed there was some support in Shetland for a link to Rosyth.
The council also submitted ideas on the timing of sailings and backed the extension of the contract to include subsidies for freight.
But the council's response did not comment on the suitability of the Hjaltland and Hrossey as the Executive had stipulated that the successful bidder would continue to lease the Hjaltland, Hrossey and Hamnavoe (used on the Pentland Firth) from the Royal Bank of Scotland but would be free to choose whether to use the freight boat Hascosay.
The chief executive of Aberdeen Harbour Board Barclay Braithwaite yesterday declined to comment to The Shetland Times on the adequacy of Aberdeen harbour to accommodate larger ferries.
The idea of using Peterhead as a port of call has been welcomed by Peterhead Port Authority.
Chief executive John Wallace said that land for a ferry terminal was readily available around the existing port.
"Peterhead is the only port in the north-east of Scotland that 186m vessels can call into," he said.
"This is only a report at the moment but it is a very significant report and one that requires a lot further consideration by all interested parties.
"The most important thing in all of this is that the proper service is made available to the people of the Northern Isles."
Call for new ferries for Northern Isles
Shetland Times Online
A LEADING academic has called for the Northern Isles ferries Hjaltland and Hrossey to be replaced after branding them among the most inefficient ships built in recent years.
A hard-hitting report by Alf Baird of Napier University's Transport Research Institute concludes that replacing the Hjaltland, Hrossey and two cargo vessels operated by NorthLink with two larger ferries would save £10m a year.
"This would virtually double present freight/car capacity at no additional cost and offers scope for adding more cabins on a longer hull," the report claims.
"The specific cost saving is equivalent to in excess of £60m over each six-year contract period giving a saving of some £554m over the 25-year expected lifetime of a ship.
"The Hjaltland and Hrossey appear to be two of the most inefficient and environmentally unfriendly ships built in recent years by virtue of their single freight deck, extremely high installed power and hence very high fuel consumption relative to payload."
The report also claims it would be necessary to use Peterhead and Rosyth rather than Aberdeen because Aberdeen harbour is unable to accommodate 186-metre ferries.
According to Dr Baird ferries would need to have a length at least 186 metres to make real savings. Even ships with a length of around 165 metres (the same length as the Smyril Line ferry Norröna) are fuel inefficient.
Ferries of around 186 metres would also be cheaper to buy as they are mass produced on production lines at shipping yards around the world whereas smaller ferries have to be custom-built at greater expense.
Commissioned by the EU-funded Northern Maritime Corridor (NMC) project, the report was brought to the attention of the SIC's infrastructure committee on Tuesday by councillor Leslie Angus, Shetland's representative at NMC meetings.
Describing the Hjaltland and Hrossey as "unfit for purpose" Mr Angus said: "Given the critical importance of sea transport to Shetland we should discuss this report as soon as possible and should make representations to the Scottish Executive."
Councillors agreed to invite Dr Baird to the next meeting of the committee to discuss the report.
SIC transport spokesman Gordon Mitchell welcomed the report but said he was surprised that there was no mention of the possibility of using Aberdeen's outer harbour to accommodate larger ferries.
When the Hjaltland and Hrossey were commissioned five years ago, NorthLink Ferries and the Scottish Executive were told by Aberdeen Port Authority that the maximum length of the ferries would be restricted to 125m unless the ferry terminal was moved to the east end of the Jamieson Quay.
According to NorthLink chief executive Bill Davidson ferries of up to 165m could have been built if the decision had been taken to relocate the ferry terminal.
"If you were to start with a clean sheet of paper and you prepared to go to Peterhead or Rosyth you might well have built the size of vessels mentioned in this report but those were not the ground rules set down in 1998," he said.
"Following public consultation the decision was taken to keep going to Aberdeen even though Invergordon had been making a pitch.
"At that time we weren't able to justify larger boats and 125m boats seemed to be adequate. To some extent we have been the victim of our own success.
"We have grown passenger numbers by 54 per cent and would now be able to justify larger boats on the route.
"There might well be something in this report but quite a number of the figures are estimates and a proper options appraisal is needed."
According to Dr Baird, Aberdeen Harbour Board fiercely resisted the idea of relocating the ferry terminal when the idea was first mooted five years ago.
Although 165m boats had entered Aberdeen harbour once or twice in the past a tug was needed to bring the boats in, Dr Baird said.
The only way of bringing 186m boats into the harbour would be by extending the harbour walls, he added.
Other harbours around the UK, most recently Great Yarmouth, have rebuilt their harbour walls to accommodate larger vessels but such a project would take years of planning and construction work.
Next month the Scottish Executive is expected to name the preferred bidder to operate the Northern Isles ferry routes for the next six-year contract.
The Executive was forced to retender the routes after it emerged that NorthLink had been swallowing twice as much government subsidy as originally expected.
NorthLink had been awarded the contract to take over the routes from P&O from October 2002 after putting in a bid to run the service for a subsidy of £1m a month but has so far received more than £78m from the Executive to keep going.
According to Dr Baird, the inefficiency of the current NorthLink fleet may be one of the main reasons for the need for the extra cash handouts.
Transport minister and Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said the council had been consulted on the specification for the new contract and had insisted on keeping Aberdeen as the main port of call on the mainland.
"The SIC was fully involved in the contract specification," he said. " I hope they are not going to argue to rip up the contract at this stage. It is not realistic.
"Local people wouldn't understand it given all the uncertainty if we were to start again. For the future I am very happy to look at new ideas on how the service can be improved.
"There is a proper debate to be had but we shouldn't do it on the basis of one academic report. I think this is an interesting contribution to the debate but it is only one contribution."
Captain Mitchell said that the council did not expect Mr Scott to change the specification for the contract at this late stage of the tendering process but hoped that new ships to replace the Hjaltland and Hrossey would be built before the next six-year contract gets under way in 2012.
"We wouldn't expect to move from Aberdeen to Peterhead but we would expect the possibility of using the outer harbour in Aberdeen to have been examined," he said.
Capt Mitchell said that the idea of moving to Peterhead would not be supported by the council as the north-east port did not have good road and rail links to the rest of the country.
He also added that it was surprising that the Scottish Executive itself did not seem to have examined whether the use of two large ferries would save money.
"I would expect there would be considerable savings," he said. "We have always thought that Aberdeen has been slow to react to change in the way shipping is moving in the North Sea.
"They have concentrated on the oil industry in the last few years but North Sea oil is drying up and they have to start encouraging other vessels to come to Aberdeen.
"If Aberdeen wants to stay viable as a port they need to think about providing better facilities."
The SIC submitted its response to the Executive's consultation on the Northern Isles ferry contract in July 2004.
At the end of a seven-week consultation exercise, the council backed the idea of keeping Aberdeen as the mainland port for the Shetland ferry service although it claimed there was some support in Shetland for a link to Rosyth.
The council also submitted ideas on the timing of sailings and backed the extension of the contract to include subsidies for freight.
But the council's response did not comment on the suitability of the Hjaltland and Hrossey as the Executive had stipulated that the successful bidder would continue to lease the Hjaltland, Hrossey and Hamnavoe (used on the Pentland Firth) from the Royal Bank of Scotland but would be free to choose whether to use the freight boat Hascosay.
The chief executive of Aberdeen Harbour Board Barclay Braithwaite yesterday declined to comment to The Shetland Times on the adequacy of Aberdeen harbour to accommodate larger ferries.
The idea of using Peterhead as a port of call has been welcomed by Peterhead Port Authority.
Chief executive John Wallace said that land for a ferry terminal was readily available around the existing port.
"Peterhead is the only port in the north-east of Scotland that 186m vessels can call into," he said.
"This is only a report at the moment but it is a very significant report and one that requires a lot further consideration by all interested parties.
"The most important thing in all of this is that the proper service is made available to the people of the Northern Isles."