The Highland Council is to work with other Highland and Islands councils to campaign for the retention of publicly-funded salvage tugs, based at Stornoway and Shetland. Councillors fiercely oppose the UK Government's recent decision to end funding in September of next year of the tugs, which were introduced as the result of the inquiry by Lord Donaldson into the Braer Disaster, off Shetland in 1993.
Council Leader Michael Foxley, who raised the issue at Monday's Highland and Islands Convention in Orkney, said: "We fought long and hard to get these emergency tugs in place following a series of accidents and near misses around our shores. Given the increased activity of super tankers, naval and fishing vessels and offshore renewable craft, it would be a disaster to lose this life saving service. The option of using a commercial tug service is not acceptable. It can take between one and three days to get a commercial tug to the scene of an incident around our coastline."
Councillor John Laing, Chairman of The Highland Council's TEC Services Committee, said the grounding of the HMS Astute off Skye last Friday highlighted the importance of the emergency tug cover that is provided from Stornoway.
He said: "How ironic it was that only 36 hours after the UK Government announced the end of funding for emergency tugs in the Highlands and Islands that the Stornoway tug was required to haul the Royal Navy's newest and largest attack submarine off the seabed to safety. We are so lucky that the weather was calm at the time of this embarrassing incident for the Royal Navy. It is unthinkable that the Government should be considering the withdrawal of the tugs."