Regarding the States Tug, is minister in position to provide fuller explanation of works undertaken and costs

1240/5(5937)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY THE DEPUTY OF ST. JOHN

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 18th JANUARY 2011

Question

Further to questions in December 2010 regarding the States Tug, is the Minister in a position to provide a fuller explanation of the works undertaken and costs involved including staffing time and overtime, as well as advising which account within the Department is to pay for the repairs and give reasons why at the time of inspection of the vessel at the yard in Holland the works were not put in hand and why it was necessary for the vessel to return to Holland for this work to be undertaken?

Would the Minister provide details of the full costs to date (rather than estimates) of the replacement stand-in vessels including manpower charges and the costs of the Sealion'?

Could details of the ship's logbook be made available to members given the Minister has said that the vessel is in use on average 175 days per year?

Answer

I am told that in early November, routine checks of hydraulic oil samples on the  Duke of Normandy' revealed an unusually high content of contaminate. As all the hydraulic systems on the vessel are fed from a common tank, there was a high risk of equipment damage to various components therefore the system had to be isolated and urgent repairs carried out.

The problem had not occurred at the time of the inspection in May and would not have been apparent any earlier.

Equipment to carry out the repairs was not available locally and quotes were sought from yards in the UK and Holland. The quote from Damen represented best value for money.

The fault was traced to the failure of a single hydraulic pump which on inspection did not need to be replaced. The faulty pump was rebuilt using spare components available in the yard. An enhancement to the hydraulic system was carried out at the same time to ensure that any future such failure can be isolated.

The cost of the repair in total was £43,000 including overtime costs of £7,000.The tug is an asset of the Port of Jersey and costs were therefore charged to this account.

The replacement tug Goliath' cost £26,500 including the skipper. Jersey Harbours' staff made up the remainder of crew. The charter of Sealion' to carry out essential dredging work cost £17,800.

Logbooks are available for inspection on board the Duke of Normandy'. If any Member would like the opportunity to review these, an appointment should be made by request to the Harbour Master.

An operational summary for 2008, 2009 and 2010 is provided below, illustrating the number and types of task undertaken.

*  Vessel  berthing  assistance  is  often  for  early  morning  arrivals  and  late  evening  shipping movements.

** Duke of Normandy was off station for two periods totalling 69 days in 2010 whilst statutory

survey work and repairs were carried out.