Picture by Mike Page shows :-
tankers off the coast between lowestoft and Southwold
Ship to ship transfers to continue off Southwold and Lowestoft coast
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
12:43 PM
Oil companies have been given the go-ahead to continue the practice of ship-to-ship oil transfers off the Suffolk coast.
Shipping minister Mike Penning today confirmed the controversial practice would stand despite a wave of protest from residents in Southwold.
They feared the sight of the tankers on the horizon would hit the tourism trade in the town while any spill could be devastating for the coast.
Under the new legislation, Sole Bay will be the only place in UK waters where ship-to-ship oil transfers can take place.
The previous Government had moved to outlaw the practice altogether, supported by former Suffolk Coastal MP John Gummer.
Consultation on the move to limit the transfers to Southwold, proposed by the new Government, had been extended to give local people their say.
In a written statement, Mr Penning told the House of Commons: “Having taken account of all the representations made, both in the main review and in the extension of the review in February and March, I have again come to the conclusion that this is the appropriate course of action and that the designated area for ship-to-ship transfers (other than in harbour authority waters) shall be the waters off the Suffolk coast where ship-to-ship transfers are already carried out.
“The recognition of these waters off the Suffolk coast as a suitable area for carrying out ship-to-ship transfers is based on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s and the industry’s actual experience of the successful use of these waters for ship-to-ship transfer operations over a number of years without pollution of the seas and coasts.
“The MCA will continue to monitor such operations closely to ensure they are carried out to the highest possible safety standards.”
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7 comments
ps apologies for the typos!
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Dogberry
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Stranegely enough this was put on hold just before the local elections in case it made Southwold vulnerabel to a Labour win...now the elections over and its's a Tory seat again, it's the usual "ignore the wishes of the people" attitude from Government...if the Tories had lost this seat then they wouldn't have been able to "fix" their way back into power in Waveney!
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Dogberry
Thursday, June 9, 2011
I can't see it makes any odds, as if the tankers are "put upon" by the MCA, WDC or anybody else, all they have to do is move outside territorial waters to be out of UK jurisdiction. Vinny.p - it's even better than that! T. Coffey, the new Tory MP for Suffolk Coastal, voted FOR transhipments and AGAINST the wishes of her constituents, so I hope that was but a brief honeymoon she enjoyed.
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T Doff
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Commonsense has prevailed. The fact is once outside UK waters, as most of these transfers are, the government would not be able to do much about them. Did the Southwold objectors realise this?
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Port Watcher
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Great decision im all for it and they have been doing it for years anyway.Its only while they have been anchored that people can see them.As for southwold they are tory supporters and was it not a labour minister that was going to stop this.Thats what they get for voting for their favorite party i have no sympathy.
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vinny.p
Thursday, June 9, 2011
As long as the spill occurs during the week or in the Winter when 90% of Southwold "Residents" are back in London
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DaveG
Thursday, June 9, 2011
who cares what people of southwold think anyway i live in lowestoft and need the work.
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i love lowestoft
Wednesday, June 8, 2011