Sea
Transport -
Issues and Concerns
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03/03/2003 |
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This
is what we said: General
Not
enough is being done to reduce the incidence of serious pollution accidents such
as the recent tanker sinking off coast of Spain. Collision
risk at sea is still too high as demonstrated in the high-profile series of
collisions in the English Channel. Both pollution and collision
have particularly serious potential consequences off the west and north coasts
of Scotland. Integration
For
sea passenger transport to be effective it is dependent on integration with
other forms of transport at our ports, particularly with rail and road. There
is still very little co-ordination in timetabling between rail/bus and ferry
services. Integration
with road transport depends on a good road network to our ports.
The roads leading to Oban from all directions, for example, are
particularly poor. (Compare with A835 leading to Ullapool.) Ferry Services
There
is a grave danger that the current tendering process for Calmac ferry services
is regarded as the solution to their problems;
it is more likely to be a distraction from finding a cure. These
services are vital to the economies of our islands and their communities.
When they are busy they provide too little capacity and when they are
not, too little frequency. They
are too expensive. They are
inflexible. (For example, for
hundreds of years there has been a direct service between Mull and her
neighbours Coll and Tiree. At
the start of the 21st century there is no longer such a service! As a
result, traffic between them, both goods and people, has plummeted.) |
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