Government waste re Coastguard tugs

[baldy1926]

How much do you think this has cost.
Last year the government scrapped the HM Coastguard tugs they provided emergency cover around the country i think there were 4 in total.
The northern one was the last to go as every time the goverment tried to scarp the tug it was out on a rescue.
That should have been a clue that it was needed.
Now they have charted a private tug to provide cover.
How much do you think they have saved?
I have a feeling nothing

[FiF]

Know cost of verything but value of nothing.

It will in all probability cost more.

Yet more evidence that this Government are idiots.

[MartG]

Just a continuation of the outsourcing of government jobs that has been goung on for decades - totally ignoring the fact that the companies which take on the work have to make a profit, which they usually do by making half the outsourced staff redundant ( and claiming benefits, so adding more cost to the overall package ) and working the remaining staff so hard the quality of the work suffers. Especially annoying when they outsource stuff to foreign owned companies ( eg. EDS/HP, SEMA, IBM ) who then take the work offshore to protect their home employment market

[shouldbworking]

Same deal as the nimrods then. Do we need long range SAR cover? nah. As soon as they disappear a couple of p-3 orions appaer to do the job.... granted, I don't know if they stayed long term.

[singlecoil]

I reckon it's more likely to be a failing of the civil service, than the government (who probably didn't know we had coastguard tugs).

[Popeyed]

baldy1926 said:

How much do you think this has cost.
Last year the government scrapped the HM Coastguard tugs they provided emergency cover around the country i think there were 4 in total.
The northern one was the last to go as every time the goverment tried to scarp the tug it was out on a rescue.
That should have been a clue that it was needed.
Now they have charted a private tug to provide cover.
How much do you think they have saved?
I have a feeling nothing

I think you will find that the tugs were all chartered in by the government. They were not government owned / managed tugs, rather they were on long term time charter from a private company; Klyne Tugs of Lowestoft I believe. No ships were scrapped, rather they were redelivered to their owner once the government decided not to fund the tugs any longer.

As for how much the gov have saved, well they are not paying for full time coverage any more so they are saving money. If there is an incident and a tanker for example was to run aground ala "Braer" style, then P&I insurance will cover the claims costs (pollution / wreck removal etc.) rather than the government.

[Birkin1932]

And don't forget there is a lot of independent salvage tugs around. It's not all about how much money is spent by the government.

In my business this year I cut costs by 12% through buying better, sales and profits are up.

Why do all the lefties go nuts if savings are made?

[hidetheelephants]

Birkin1932 said:

And don't forget there is a lot of independent salvage tugs around. It's not all about how much money is spent by the government.

In my business this year I cut costs by 12% through buying better, sales and profits are up.

Why do all the lefties go nuts if savings are made?

There are no tugs of notable size between Shetland and Liverpool; the ETV which got binned from Stornoway plugged a large gap in safety coverage on a coastline littered with reefs, swept by strong tides and regularly battered by storms. The day or more it would take a suitable tug to be chartered and sailed to a distressed ship in the Minch may well mean that ship gets broken up on a reef and its cargo released into the water.

[Birkin1932]

I agree that is a joke, they had 4 tugs costing £32.5 million and now they have none. Strange bloody decision that. But also a bloody big bill for the tax payer

Edited by Birkin1932 on Sunday 24th February 23:10