Eco-ferry that needs fuel shipped in from the Middle East

IT was announced with great fanfare as a new dawn in eco-friendly transport to and from Scotland’s islands.

But it has emerged the ‘cleaner’ fuel which will power the passenger ferries will have to be shipped in from a refinery thousands of miles away in Qatar.

Officially launched last week by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the first of two vessels powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) was heralded as a key weapon in achieving ‘Scotland’s world-leading climate change goals’.

Now transport chiefs have admitted the fuel to power the craft must make a journey of 8,141 miles from Qatar to a port in Kent before being driven a further 464 miles to the ferry terminal in Ardrossan, Ayrshire.

The ferries will need up to four tanker-loads of LNG a week, which means lorries will have to drive 3,712 miles a week between the Kent coast and the West coast of Scotland.

Launching the first ferry – the MV Glen Sannox – at Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow last week, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘These state-of-the-art ferries are more sustainable, therefore contributing to Scotland’s world-leading climate change goals.’

The Scottish Government’s obsession with green policies has seen it commit itself to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent over the next 30 years.

But providing fuel for the new ferry is likely to involve the LNG spending 20 days at sea before lorries burn thousands of gallons of diesel per week delivering it from the south of England. The Glen Sannox will begin operating on the Ardrossan to Brodick route next year, even though there is currently no bulk LNG production facility in the UK.

Operator CalMac will carry out a tender process for the supply of the fuel before the ferry – which will be the first in the UK to be powered by LNG and marine gas oil – begins service.

But officials have confirmed that at present LNG is delivered to Scotland by road tanker from the Isle of Grain in Kent, adding that ‘the fuel originates from Qatar’.

Experts say this situation is unlikely to change in the near future, explaining that a facility the size of the sprawling Grangemouth refinery in Stirlingshire would need to be built to produce enough LNG to be viable.

A spokesman for campaign group Scientific Alliance Scotland said: ‘The fact is there is no facility here capable of bulk LNG capability, so it has to be driven up from the south coast of England.

‘Producing LNG requires a major petrochemical facility, something on the scale of Grangemouth refinery. The foremost producer of LNG is Qatar, so it will more than likely be shipped from there before having to be driven up to Scotland. So it has travelled thousands of miles and involves a lot of fuel being burned along the way.

‘It’s important the public are not misled about this. The Scottish Government are hiding behind environmental concerns, when in reality they are really just exporting the problem elsewhere.’

The ferry is expected to use up to around 30,000 gallons of LNG every week.

The second LNG vessel has been earmarked for the route between Skye, North Uist and Harris.

Conservative climate change spokesman Donald Cameron said: ‘Shipping gas halfway round the world from Qatar to power our ferries makes the SNP decision to ban fracking appear even more hypocritical. Moving transport onto cleaner fuels is important but many will question the environmental benefits of shipping fuel 8,000 miles to get here.

‘The launch of our first LNG passenger ferry is a huge success story for Scottish engineering and it’s a pity the SNP didn’t give our drilling industry the same vote of confidence on fracking.’

A spokesman for Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), which own the ferries, ports and harbours for the West of Scotland and the Firth of Clyde, said: ‘With governments around the world setting ambitious targets for emissions reductions, sustainable fuel technology is a growing area of the maritime industry.

‘It’s vital that innovative technologies, such as LNG fuel technology, are explored to help reduce emissions.’

CMAL said a number of gas companies, including Flogas, are looking at the possibility of building an LNG storage and road tanker distribution terminal in Scotland.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘LNG is significantly cleaner and has been adopted by ferry operators in Northern Europe in response to tighter emissions regulations.

‘With the Scottish Government’s ambitious targets for emissions reductions, sustainable fuel technology is a growing area of the maritime industry that must be explored and we support CMAL’s efforts in this area.’

‘Appear even more hypocritical’