§ Lord KENNET asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ Whether the figure £1½ million "for capital costs" mentioned in paragraph 7, page 4 of the Department of Trade's recent publication Improved Arrangements to Combat Pollution at Sea "covers specialised equipment for use in off-loading" oil from a tanker, elsewhere than in Lyme Bay (where lightening is regularly carried out); and if not, what arrangements, if any, exist for such off-loading.
§ Lord JACQUESThe figure quoted includes a preliminary estimate of the cost of two caches of specialised equipment,1576WA to be located at Rosyth and Pembroke Dock, for use in off-loading a tanker of her cargo and bunkers and, where necessary, inerting her cargo tank spaces. This equipment, which will be additional to that already available from commercial sources, will be for use in emergency operations anywhere around the United Kingdom coastline to remove the cargo and bunkers from a stricken oil tanker.
The lightening operations carried out in Lyme Bay and in other areas around the United Kingdom coastline as part of some oil companies' normal transport arrangements use equipment carried by the specialised receiving tankers and the discharging tankers.