Vital talks are set to begin between a towage firm from Orkney and transport union bosses over the future of more than half of the workforce at the company.
As many as 20 of the 40 employees at the Orkney Towage Company could lose their jobs.
It comes after it was revealed last month that there has been a significant downturn in tanker traffic to the island’s Flotta oil terminal. Shipments of crude oil from the Foinaven field to the west of Shetland are no longer shipped to Scapa Flow but directly to ports in northern Europe.
Yesterday, the managing director of the Orkney Towage Company, Captain Nigel Mills, contacted Tommy Campbell, regional organiser of the T &G branch of the Unite union.
In a letter to Mr Campbell, he said: “As a consequence of the fall in trade the company has had to consider the current staffing levels and terms and conditions which apply to your members.”
Mr Campbell last night responded with surprise at news of the possible redundancies. He said: “It is a shock to learn they are planning to make people redundant.
“We will now meet with the company and staff to discuss the redundancies.”
Press reports in The Netherlands say Jan de Nul’s mega trailing suction hopper dredger Vasco da Gama dredger has been damaged by fire, and could it be four months before the vessel is back in action.
“There is electrical damage in the engine control room”, a spokesman for the Belgian company told Thomson Financial News.
The news had fuelled talk that Boskalis could benefit from its competitor’s setback, with an Amsterdam-based trader saying this global capacity cut should underpin the group’s performance and reduces uncertainty on estimates.
The reduction of 33,000 m3 or about 3 pct of the total global capacity could mean that prices may go up again, increasing margins even further, according to the trader.
The report did not say when or where, or how the fire occured, or provide many details about the extent of the damage.
Brief specs Vasco da Gama:
Hopper capacity: 33,000 cbm
Dimensions: 201,40 x 36.2m
Suction pipe diameter: 1,400 mm
Deadweight: 59,000 ton
Propulsion power: 2 x 14,700 kW
Speed: 16,3 kts
A Panamanian-flagged tugboat sank in the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday after being towed from the port of Ceuta after it caught fire, according to reports in the Spanish press today.
The vessel Ocean Lady (132 foot) had apparently been docked in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta after being abandoned there some months ago. Due to this Ceuta’s Port Master stated to Spanish media that ecological damage from the sinking would be negligible as the vessel had only been holding a small amount of diesel fuel.
The fire started below decks in an area filled with trash, and illegal immigrants may may have been using the ship for shelter.
The ship had been impounded by a court in Ceuta, and the fire broke out while it was docked at Puntilla pier.
The Ocean Lady sailed into Ceuta on Feb. 28 and had been docked at Puntilla under the impoundment order.
The tugboat, which was in poor condition and had been abandoned by its owner, was 40 meters (131 feet) long and displaced 29 gross tons.
The incident comes at the same time as the New Flame has been blamed by Spanish ecologists for around a 140 tonne oil slick washed up on Spanish shores even after both salvage experts and the Gibraltar Government assured in mid-December that there was no risk of material pollution, since the vessel had been defuelled and only small remnant amounts of fuel remained in the engines themselves.
Oil spills reaching Spanish beaches have been consistently attributed to stricken vessel the New Flame since August.
The Falkirk Wheel is the spectacular centrepiece of the £84.5 million ‘Millennium Link’, the UK’s largest canal restoration project, developed by British Waterways to reconnect the Union Canal with the Forth & Clyde Canal, re-establishing east to west coast access for boats.
The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres, roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building. The structure is located near the Rough Castle Fort and the closest village is Tamfourhill. On 24 May 2002, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. The opening had been delayed by a month due to flooding caused by vandals who forced open the Wheel’s gates.
This would definitely make me feel -very- uncomfortable.
The Daily Mail tells us: Alone in his tiny plastic sea kayak, marine biologist Trey Snow had hoped to stealthily track a great white shark. But he had the shock of his life when he spotted a giant fin and realised it was he who was being stalked - by surely one of the most feared killers in the world.
The magnificent creature initially dived to the seabed, inspecting the kayak from below, before rising menacingly to the surface. Luckily for Trey, the 13ft-long shark was more inquisitive than hungry.
Photo from South Africa’s Great White Shark, by Thomas Peschak and Michael Scholl (www.thomaspechak.com)
A large container vessel ran aground in the Dover Strait this morning and Dover Coastguard has sent the Coastguard Emergency Towing Vessel, Anglian Monarch to render assistance and assess the situation.
At 5am Dover Coastguard were in contact with the German registered container vessel LT Cortesia after Coastguard radar monitoring of the traffic separation zone indicated she had come to a sudden stop close to the Varne Bank. The crew confirmed that the vessel had run aground on the Varne Bank.
The LT Cortesia is a large container vessel of 90,465 Gross Tonnes and was traveling through the Dover Strait in the South West bound lane from Thames Port on route to the Suez when she ran aground on the Varne Bank 9 miles South of Dover Harbour. The vessel has 27 people on board who are all uninjured. Crew members are checking for damage on board but the cargo is reported to be secure and early indications are that the vessel is watertight. There is no reported pollution from the vessel.
The Coastguard Emergency Towing Vessel, Anglian Monarch is on scene to help evaluate any external damage to the vessel and assess the options for salvage of the vessel. Dover Coastguard and the Anglian Monarch will warn any approaching vessels of the potential navigation hazard posed by the LT Cortesia while she is aground.
The LT Cortesia is carrying 42,785 Tonnes of cargo in containers.
The tide is now falling and next high water is 6.33pm. Weather on scene is currently South South East force 4 but winds are forecast to strengthen later today to South East backing East 5 or 6, occasionally 7 later.
Press reports in The Netherlands say Jan de Nul’s mega trailing suction hopper dredger Vasco da Gama dredger has been damaged by fire, and could it be four months before the vessel is back in action.
A Panamanian-flagged tugboat sank in the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday after being towed from the port of Ceuta after it caught fire, according to reports in the Spanish press today.
A large container vessel ran aground in the Dover Strait this morning and Dover Coastguard has sent the Coastguard Emergency Towing Vessel, Anglian Monarch to render assistance and assess the situation.