The petroleum products tanker Vedrey Tora is eased from her berth at Sampson’s by the pilot boat. Vedrey Tora and Vedrey Thor have been acquired by the States to secure fuel deliveries after the ships’ owner went into administration. (Picture by Tony Rive, 0693398)
GUERNSEY looks set to own two fuel tankers for at least the next five to 10 years, a senior civil servant has said.
Responding to questions about the planned timescale for retaining the Vedrey Tora and Vedrey Thor, which were bought by government to ensure the island’s future supplies, deputy chief executive of the States Nigel Lewis said they would be taxpayer-owned for as long as necessary.
‘I would be very surprised if we did not have these ships in five to 10 years’ time,’ he said. ‘We will own them for as long as we need to, for as long as it is in the island’s best interests.’
The States bought the vessels, two of only seven tankers worldwide capable of berthing in St Sampson’s, after the company that owned them went into administration.
The news caused fear that any potential new owner might remove them from servicing Guernsey – cutting off the island’s fuel supply. In an unprecedented move, the Policy Council decided to act without prior States approval to buy the vessels.
Mr Lewis said that other options might become available in the future, such as developing a deep-water berth similar to Jersey’s, which the island could decide to look at.
‘Those other options are huge projects for Guernsey that would take many years to achieve,’ he said.
‘In the shorter term, we have bought ourselves some security. Who knows what’s going to change in 10 years’ time?’
It is not yet known how much the States will pay for the vessels, worth between 14m. and 16m. euros each when built one year ago, because the administrators had prevented the figure from being released to the public.
‘The administrators said there was no deal unless we did two things,’ Mr Lewis said.
‘The first was we were not allowed to mention the name of the boats and the second was not to mention how much they were costing.
‘This was because we still have due diligence work to do so if something was found during that time, like repairs that were needed, we might want to renegotiate the price.
‘When the costs become clear to people, I think it’s important to think how much it would have cost the island’s economy had those two ships no longer been available to us.
‘It would have been enormous.’
Article posted on 23rd December, 2008 - 11.30am
One Article Comment
If Mr Lewis can be so positive about the view that the States will own the two ships for five to ten years, we are entitled to believe that he has done the the sums to justify his comment.
Perhaps Mr Lewis will enlighten us where the money to pay for the ships comes from and what effect it will have on the budget.
No doubt the Press will poke and prod for the information and will not be put off by the usual confidentiality argument that shows its ugly head when politicians and civil servants don’t want the taxpayer to know the information.
If Mr Lewis hasn’t done the sums then it says much about Mt Lewis.
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