OIL TANKERS TO STAY ?

The Society has suffered a setback in its campaign to have ship- to -ship oil transfers off the coast of Southwold banned.

In what’s being termed the second “Battle of Sole Bay “, newly elected local MPs Terese Coffey and Peter Aldous have signed an Early Day Motion at Westminster opposing the ban which was due to come in on October 1 following a formal consultation carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency They have asked for the legislation which makes the ban possible to be annulled to allow further debate.

The Society has responded with letters asking them to reconsider and pointing out the dire consequences for the local economy if there was ever to be an oil spillage.It would far outweigh any short term advantages to local businesses- largely in Lowestoft- who are servicing the fleet of tankers currently moored here.

So why are these ships –sometimes more than 30 at a time - moored off the coast of Southwold .The answer to is that they are oil tankers and they are being used to store oil until the price on the world markets improves. The area of sea off Southwold has effectively become their car park.

Why Southwold? Well for reasons lost in the mists of time, it’s one of the few stretches of UK territorial waters that is apparently happy to allow this ship to ship transfer of oil to take place . Thus it’s become the natural destination for these huge tankers to drop anchor and then to offload or take on board oil from other vessels .Most of the oil involved comes from Russia

The actual transfer itself takes place under the auspices of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency .Its claimed the risk of spillage is small because the tanker operators are very experienced and skilful and have a good safety track record .It’s also claimed its better that it happens under the watchful eye of the Coastguard rather than outside the 12 mile limit without any supervision.

BUT - there has always been a lingering fear that even the best laid plans can go awry and that the consequences of just one oil spill could be devastating not just for the local wildlife but for the region’s economy which relies so heavily on tourism .Estimated revenue from tourism is ( TBC) This is why the Society campaigned long and hard to have the practice of oil transfers banned and the tankers moved to somewhere else . Their campaign had the support of former local MP John Gummer MP and the ban itself was due to come into force on October 1`.

So what happened to change things. Well the new MPs appear to have come under pressure from local businesses in Lowestoft who say the ban will damage their economy and result in job losses if the tankers are moved on. The MPs have therefore decided the best way forward is to postpone the implementation of the ban and take another closer look at the situation.

The Society however believes this is a mistake and that the ban is as necessary as ever because the financial consequences of an oil spillage to the tourist industry would dwarf any short term losses suffered by local businesses in Lowestoft servicing the tankers .

The Society has now written to the MPs to seek an urgent meeting to get them to change their mind .So far the response has been ..(TBC) Secretary to update)

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