Tug delivery delay

THE ARRIVAL of two new tugs for the port of Sullom Voe has been delayed to iron out a number of teething problems.

Shetland Islands Council’s harbour board heard on Wednesday that crews and management were happy with the tugs’ performance during initial sea trials and the general standard of work, but more time was needed to go through the long list of problems.

The two £7 million tugs Solan and Bonxie are being built at the Union Naval shipyard, in Valencia, Spain.

Both vessels were initially scheduled to be delivered in spring this year.

Harbourmaster Roger Moore told the meeting that there was no point in taking delivery of the tugs when they not ready to go into service straight away.

The meeting heard that the number of problems had been reduced from around 500 items to just 99 over recent weeks.

“What we want is a tug that is as perfect as it can be before it comes here. Payment will be on delivery. The good news is that we are not over budget, but we are well over schedule,” he said.