Traffic Routeing in the Minches and West of Hebrides.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and The Highland Council have welcomed a major improvement in shipping and environmental safety for the Minches with the introduction of an Automatic Identification System (AIS).

The AIS provides information to the coastguard on any ship over 300 gross tonne and any passenger ship that is passing through the Minches or using the Deep Water Route to the West of the Hebrides.  It strengthens significantly the voluntary reporting system that is currently in place with the position of shipping seen at a glance.

Angus Nicolson, Chair of the Tanker Traffic in the Minch Working Group, a joint Comhairle and Highland Council group, said: “I very much welcome these measures and am pleased that the long campaign by both Councils has paid off. Our commitment to protect the environment of our waters will continue with a series of measures designed to improve safety.”

AIS is just one of the control measures that the working party has lobbied successive governments for over the past number of years and is amongst other control measures now coming to fruition.

In 2005 the Councils jointly commissioned a traffic routeing study in the Minches and West of Hebrides.  The results from that study, combined with a government traffic survey in 2004, led to a number of Risk Control Options being identified and submitted from the Marine and Coastguard Agency to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).  This has led to the IMO’s agreement to implement the following important improvements:

• The introduction of recommended routes North and South;
• Improved navigation aids in the Shiant Narrows;
• Strengthened reporting arrangements through the introduction of additional reporting at key points;
• The fitting of emergency towing gear on all vessels over a phased period;
• Improved chart coverage;
• Shifting the deep water route further away from the western seaboard of Lewis.

Due to changes that will be required in navigation chart graphics, it will be July of this year before all the measures are implemented.

Dr Michael Foxley, Vice Convener of Highland Council said: “These measures represent a very significant achievement after almost 20 years of persistent and determined campaigning by the Councils.  My aim has always been to ensure we have total control over shipping in the Minches and we still have some way to go before this is achieved.

“To that end, we will continue to campaign for mandatory routing and mandatory reporting as well as continued rapid development of the capability of AIS to monitor and manage traffic in the Minches.  Nevertheless, the importance of these current improvements as the building blocks towards further improvements cannot be overstated.  The Minches will be much safer for our years of effort.”

The two Councils have agreed to write to the UK Shipping Minister, Stephen Ladyman MP, to welcome these improvements but also to highlight a number of continuing concerns.

The most urgent of these is the failure of the UK Government to carry out a hydrographic survey of the Deep Water Route to enable the shifting of the route even further West.  The Minister gave the two Councils a commitment that this survey would commence within a matter of months when they last met back in November 2005, but as yet, nothing has happened.

The Group will also be seeking formal confirmation of the Minister’s agreement that local authorities will have a place on any Environment Group set up in response to shipping incidents in the future.  In addition, the Group will continue to lobby for the implementation of mandatory routing and mandatory reporting.