§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Cope.]
10.27 pm§ Mr. Edward du Cann (Taunton)I thank my hon. Friend the Minister for his presence here tonight. I know that it is not usually popular to say to people's faces the nice things that occasionally one has the opportunity to say behind their backs, but he is a member of the Government for whom all of us on the Back Benches have much respect and in whom we repose very great confidence. I hope that he will be able to accede to the requests that I have to make of him this evening.
I have basically two points to make. The first, which is incontrovertible, that the hydrographic potential in our nation is a most important national asset. The second point is that this fine, patriotic and important practical service needs help, help to burst through the logjam of inertia which is its command.
523 I have an interest to declare. First, I am, as a sailor, a user of charts. I do not have a commercial interest to declare, although I hope one day to acquire one. I am the admiral of the House of Commons Yacht Club. In my constituency we have the hydrographic establishment.
I want to pay the warmest possible tribute to the work that those devoted men and women in that arm of the Ministry of Defence perform. They are skilled, devoted, conscientious and competent. What is more, they are successful.
They have been well led for many years. I can recall Admiral Ritchie, when he was Hydrographer of the Navy. He is now fulfilling a most important international responsibility. I recall particularly the present Hydrographer, whose modesty masks an ability which is really quite outstanding, Admiral Haslam. I have not yet seen the annual report of the Hydrographic Service for 1979. I hope my hon. Friend can say that it will be published before long. I know from my experience that it has had a most successful year. In terms of work accomplished, it must have published and sold over 2½ million charts and, I dare say, about 500,000 books, with substantial earnings for the Exchequer in sterling and in foreign currency. It is, indeed, a substantial national asset.
Besides my own local, personal interest, there is a large, national interest in this subject. Obviously, there is the defence interest. That will become substantially greater because of our adoption of Trident. There is also a trade interest. Our country is totally dependent on sea trade. Our merchant fleet is a great earner of foreign currency. By no means least, we have an expanding offshore presence.
In terms of defence and in terms of the economy, this matter is of overwhelming interest to our nation. Yet only about 30 per cent. of the United Kingdom coastal waters are still surveyed to modern standards. Some previous surveys on which modern charts are based are 100 years old or more. This is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. The safety of every ship in transit depends almost entirely on the reliability of the charts carried on board.
There is an increasing danger of a chart deficiency or inaccuracy leading to an accident. A precedent has occurred recently in Sweden where a Soviet vessel went ashore off Stockholm by relying on a Swedish hydrographer's chart on which a sounding was plotted one millimetre away from the correct position on a small-scale 1977 chart, the latest available. That chart was based on 1968 information. The Swedish hydrographer is now being sued for damages of about £1 million. One can argue that the Soviet vessel should not have been so close to the position of the sounding. One can argue all sorts of things. Sooner or later, there will be another serious accident off our shores—another "Torrey Canyon", another "Amoco Cadiz" or suchlike.
New shallows are discovered on the bottom continuously. New features are discovered, lately, for example, off St. Kilda and off Anglesey, where the large ships go en route to Sullom Voe. As sure as it is that we are in the House of Commons tonight, there will be an accident. It seems to me that the payment of a few million pounds gross, much reduced as a net figure by the sale of charts, notices to mariners, pilots and the like, is a small insurance premium to pay to see that disaster is avoided.
524 The size of the hydrographic task has grown continuously over the years while the hydrographic capability has not. The importance of hydrographic work has been enhanced greatly over the past 15 years by the advent of the very large cargo carrier and the ultra-large cargo carrier with draughts as great as 90 ft., which has effectively made obsolete every chart produced before about 1964. The practice before that time was to take soundings in most areas only down to about 10 fathoms, or 60 ft. That was at least 50 per cent. greater than the maximum draughts of the largest ships then afloat, such as the "Queen Mary" and the "Queen Elizabeth".
Doubling the accurate depths required has effectively increased the sea areas to be surveyed by modern methods by at least 10 times and also involved re-surveying on a regular basis certain sensitive and shallow areas such as the Straits of Dover, Malacca and Hormuz, so much in the news, not only for bottom contours but also for other obstructions, principally wrecks, themselves subject to considerable movement, as are the sand waves in some areas. The task has grown. The capability has not.
It is the duty of the Royal Navy to protect not only the merchant service against our enemies. As I am sure all right hon. and hon. Members will agree, it is its duty to protect all our ships against the natural hazards beneath the waves. What is more, there is a new aspect. We are now much more aware than we used to be of the treasures, actual and potential, lying beneath the sea. Hydrography will have a very important part to play in their discovery and their unlocking as times goes by.
This is not the first time that I have raised this subject, as my hon. Friend the Minister well knows, as does my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Colchester (Mr. Buck), a former distinguished Navy Minister. This is the fifth occasion on which I have raised this subject in the House in recent years. There is nothing unknown about the need, whether we speak about the need around the United Kingdom coasts, as I have, whether we speak of the United Kingdom ports, or whether we talk in world terms. Hong Kong is one outstanding example. If we do not fill the vacuum abroad to the best of our ability, it will be filled by others.
The need was investigated thoroughly, as my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Colchester will remember, in 1974 by the Hydrographical Study Group. The report of that body in 1975 recommended a considerable expansion of the coastal and inshore survey squadrons, as well as retention of the existing ocean survey ships and replacement of the ageing inshore vessels. While the hydrographic fleet has been kept in service at its 1974 strength and one additional coastal survey vessel was promised in April 1979, as I understand it, it is not yet on order, and the inshore survey squadron's two ships, "Woodlark" and "Waterwitch", which are now both more than 20 years old, are due to be paid off within four months for lack of manpower, for reasons of age and the cost of maintenance. That seems incredible to me. I have illustrated the need. It seems as though the capability now is to be reduced.
But there is worse. We have, then, inertia lasting over five, if not six, years. Inertia is costly, for everything is older and replacement is more expensive. Building costs must have gone up three or four times in the meantime. It was false economy not to have started the building some considerable time ago.
525 It seems incredible to an observer of the sea and one who loves and greatly respects the Royal Navy, in which I was privileged to serve for nearly four years in the war, and I know how devoted to the Royal Navy the Minister is. He must feel as worried as I am by some of the silly economies which are being forced on the Hydrographic Service at the moment. There are 10 per cent. cuts across the board regardless of the importance of the work. Some 1,000 charts hive been reproduced to metric standards. At the present rate, the work of metrication of all the charts issued by the Admiralty will not be completed until the end of the century. There are fuel cuts. It is sometimes difficult to get spares for ships, and the like. There is a shortage even of general service crew, though happily not of specialists.
There are very real worries, and my object in raising this matter tonight is to call or, the Government to implement at once the report of the Hydrographic Study Group as a minimum. I should like to know in due course what further proposals it might have for the expansion of this service.
I strongly believe that we must find a way of alternative financing for the service. I am not sure that it should be wholly a defence requirement in future. There is much to be said for a whole range of Departments contributing, not only the Department of Trade, which is the obvious choice, but the Department of Energy—and Why not the Exchequer? Surely it is, or should be, the rule that the role of the great Departments of State is to support British industry. Support from other Departments for the Hydrographic Service is an obvious and much-needed support for British industry.
I also believe that the law in relation to the sea requires strengthening in a particular way, of which I shall give an example. Recently a 13,000-tonne tanker arrived in Milford Haven The pilot who took it in reported that the ship, flying an EEC flag, had or board for the journey and for Milford Haven only charts dated 1957 — 23 years old The charts showed the harbour as it was in 1957, and every hon. Member knows that it has been much altered since those days. They showed none of the new nav-aids and made no provision for the IALA buoyage changes and the like.
Since 1957 there have been six new editions of the harbour charts and more than 100 notices to mariners. Should not our law require every ship to carry modern charts? That would seem to be an ordinary, simple, safety precaution, not involving much expense, which would be a great reassurance to the general populace. In view of the devastation on the beaches of Brittany and our own beaches resulting from pollution following collisions, strandings and the like, the expense involved in clearing up afterwards, and the potential danger to life—human and animal—it is surely not too much to insist that those who venture to sea in large ships are properly equipped for the purpose.
The point is simple. I end as I began. Hydrography is crucial. We need the best and the most active Hydrographic Service. We have in it now some of the best people in the world. They deserve and need, in the national interest, more support. I hope that my hon. Friend and his light hon. Friends will give it to them, in the national interest.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Defence for the Royal Navy (Mr. Keith Speed)I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for Taunton (Mr. du Cann) not only for his kind remarks about me but for once again doing the House a service by bringing to our attention the work of the Hydrographic Department and the surveying flotilla and identifying areas where improvements are required.
This occasion also gives me the opportunity to provide some account of recent developments and of our plans for the future. In so doing, I hope that I can answer some of my right hon. Friend's questions, although I hope that he will not expect me in the time available to deal with every particular.
The Hydrographer's report, which, as always, is extremely interesting and carries a great deal of most helpful information for all mariners—not only in this country but throughout the world—will, I hope, be published very soon. Indeed, not so long ago I was looking at the galley proofs.
I listened with interest and some approval to my right hon. Friend's comments about other Departments sharing in the costs of the Hydrographic Service. However, when resources generally are constrained I am not sure how much we solve by passing the buck from one Department to another. But I do not dissent from my right hon. Friend's view as a long-term principle.
Last year I had the pleasure of visiting my right hon. Friend's constituency to see the Hydrographic Department. I endorse everything that he has said about it tonight. It was an impressive and instructive experience. It gave me a valuable insight into the work of the many people associated directly and indirectly with the production of charts and related material. The charts are the end product of a well-organised chain of events which begins at sea with the work of the surveying flotilla. It was this part of the operation which I had the good fortune to visit shortly after we debated these matters last year.
My visit to HMS "Beagle" took place in November 1979 in a force 9 gale, as I recollect well. "Beagle" was at sea, surveying part of the Irish Sea. I was winched to and from the ship, so I was able to see her at work. Despite the fact that my visit was all too short, it was plain that the ship's company was in good heart and ably led. When one considers that the crew of such ships put in long hours in often atrocious weather, it is a tribute to their determination and professionalism that they continue to produce excellent results. It also helps to make clear to those of us who have a responsibility for ensuring that the flotilla continues to be an effective force that the task of charting and resurveying the waters around the United Kingdom is by no means an easy one. We have only to see that at first hand to understand it.
I am a former watch-keeping officer in the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Reserve, I know from first-hand experience that the safety of a ship and her crew is dependent upon the accuracy of the charts available to her.
My right hon. Friend spoke of the recent experience of a tanker carrying old charts. Like him, I am extremely unhappy about that. I am not a lawyer, and whether the law needs to be changed is a matter for maritime countries, not only for the United Kingdom.
In this context, it is particularly disturbing that so many ships do not carry up-to-date charts. During the summer of 1979, the British and French maritime authorities 527 visited merchant ships arriving in their ports and carried out an inspection of the charts in use for the area of the Ushant and Casquets traffic separation schemes. In British ports, of 229 vessels inspected, 39 carried charts which did not show the Ushant scheme and 46 had charts which did not show the Casquets scheme. Both schemes had been so significantly altered on 1 January 1979 that in some areas the recommended direction of passage was completely reversed. Yet, some seven months later, some owners were allowing their ships to use charts which led them the wrong way down the Channel. This is grossly irresponsible.
According to a local newspaper account, a Bermudan court during the year heard that a four-year-old, 528-ft. cargo vessel grounded on 27 December 1978 on the outer edge of the extensive reef surrounding Bermuda. The ship carried only a very small-scale chart of the whole Atlantic Ocean, on which Bermuda appeared as a minute blob. The hearing examiner found that
the grounding was caused by the failure to equip the vessel with adequate charts; on a vessel making a trans-Atlantic voyage, it is not an unreasonable suggestion to have it equipped with charts of Bermuda.There could be many other examples which, in due course, will be recorded in the report soon to be published. I entirely accept what my right hon. Friend says. It is not only a question of carrying the charts; they must be used by the navigator and the officer on watch.
§ Mr. Antony Buck (Colchester)The situation appears to be even more serious than we believed. This matter should be discussed at future sessions of the law of the sea conference on an international basis. Will my hon. Friend consult his colleagues to ensure that we have a diplomatic offensive to ensure that something is done about the disturbing facts which he has revealed?
§ Mr. SpeedI hope that the report will have that effect. I hope that the international insurance industry, since it is also in its own interests, will bring pressure to bear.
As for recent events, though keeping the Royal connection, HMS "Fox" had the honour to receive a visit from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales when he visited her in October this year at the Pool of London. This was not his first visit. His Royal Highness and the present commanding officer were part of the ship's company when "Fox" surveyed West Indian waters off Antigua.
Much of the work of the surveying flotilla continues to be devoted to waters nearer home to meet the growing requirements of the Royal Navy's surface ships and submarines. To take but one example, the operational effectiveness of the Royal Navy's ballistic missiles and nuclear-powered attack submarines — my right hon. Friend mentioned this — depends crucially on their having detailed and accurate knowledge of the shape of the sea bed and the characteristics of water columns where they are likely to be deployed. To some extent, therefore, the task of the surveying flotilla is never ending in that it requires it to keep abreast of advances by the other side. It is no accident that the Soviet Union, with its submarine fleet of more than 300 boats, should maintain a substantial and growing hydrographic capability. The House will not expect me to say more than that the greater versatility of the Trident submarine and the requirement for it to remain undetected at all times demand still more hydrographic information.
528 However, the surveying flotilla is not deployed solely on defence work, important though that is. About one-third of the current flotilla's efforts is put into work of benefit to merchant shipping.
In the course of this year, the inshore survey craft continued routine surveys in the outer Thames Estuary, the Goodwin Sands and off the East Anglian coast, primarily for the benefit of the merchant marine. Major surveys of similar benefit were carried out in the Irish Sea, in the approaches to the Bristol Channel and off the west and north coasts of Scotland. These surveys lie astride the routes that are used to a growing extent by tankers on passage to and from the massive oil terminal at Sullom Voe, also mentioned by my right hon. Friend. Important surveys were also carried out in the English Channel and off the coast of Yorkshire, where a number of wrecks were examined and several were located for the first time. That again underlines what my right hon. Friend said.
I mentioned last year that work was well in hand to review the whole problem of the requirement for civil hydrography. My right hon. Friend quite rightly had much to say about that tonight. I am glad to say that since then we have made considerable progress, not perhaps as rapidly as some would wish, but against the background of great financial restraint only programmes of the highest priority can expect to go forward unscathed.
First, I am pleased to be able to report an improvement of 49 in the number of specialist hydrographic officers and surveying recorder ratings available, which will give the Hydrographer a better base to build on than in previous years.
Secondly, in April this year my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade, with his responsibility for maritime affairs and especially the safety of shipping, announced the Government's intention to order a new coastal survey vessel. A feasibility study has since been carried out and design work is in hand on a ship of some 1,400 tonnes. If all goes well, firms will be invited to submit tenders shortly. We expect the vessel to enter service in about three years' time.
The Government are considering what further resources are required and can be provided to supplement the coastal survey vessel. In the meantime, so that surveys of the highest priority can be undertaken, the Royal Navy will be deploying from next year on civil tasks the surveying effort equivalent to a total of three coastal survey vessels. The ships involved will be an ocean survey ship, a coastal survey vessel and three inshore survey craft. These ships will be tasked to carry out a programme drawn up in consultation with the Department of Trade, covering routes through areas of the highest priority to merchant vessels—the Minches, west of the Hebrides and, in the deep water routes, the southern North Sea. Other but none the less important surveys off the south and west coasts of the United Kingdom will continue, and, of course, much of the remaining work of the flotilla will also be of benefit to merchant shipping.
As to our plans for the Royal Navy's surveying flotilla, I am glad to be able to report that work is well in hand on studies for new ships for the defence surveying task which in due course will replace the ageing inshore survey craft. These include a new coastal survey vessel and a 15-metre survey launch. Slightly less advanced are the studies into a solid side wall hovercraft. The new vessels will be better adapted to the conditions in which they are expected to 529 operate and, An the case of the coastal survey vessel, will be able to fulfil a wider range of tasks than the craft it will be replacing.
I conclude, as I began in my opening remarks, by a reference to the main purpose of Britain's hydrographic effort — namely, the production of charts. After the hiatus last year because of the printer's strike, I am glad to report that the operations of the Department are back to normal In fact, in 1979 more than 2¾ million charts and 500,000 books were sold, slightly more than in the previous year This year both chart and book sales have again shown s light increases. The worldwide recession in shipping is undoubtedly a contributing factor in the rate of growth. Without it, sales would almost certainly have shown a marked increase. Work continues to promote the availability of charts and publications, and last year more than 30 new agencies were established in the United Kingdom and 12 abroad. There are now nearly 100 agents in the United Kingdom and 108 overseas in 44 counties.
To sum up, last year I had to temper my report by a reference to the industrial dispute at Taunton. This year I am glad to state that we were able to recover lost ground rapidly and chart production has been restored to normal 530 —thanks to excellent co-operation by all concerned. I am sure that my right hon. Friend will join with me in a tribute to that.
Elsewhere, the Royal Navy's already significant contribution to the needs of merchant shipping has been enhanced and work is in hand to ensure that the surveying flotilla is given the ships and equipment it needs to do its work effectively. I am aware that we have not gone quite as far or fast enough for some, including my right hon. Friend.
I am afraid that the Hydrographic Department, like other departments in the Ministry of Defence, cannot be entirely excluded from the economies that we are having to make and some of the cost-cutting exercises that we are having to undertake. But I hope that my right hon. Friend will agree that in the past year we have begun to bring into effect the result of one of the most thorough studies of the Hydrographic Service ever carried out. The Hydrographic Service can now look forward to its most important task with confidence for the future, because the future for it, for the Royal Navy and for the merchant navies of the world is so very important.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly four minutes to Eleven o'clock.