A LIBERIAN registered LPG tanker is awaiting rescue off the Pembrokeshire coast after developing engine trouble, The Herald can confirm.

The 100m long vessel, which has a carrying capacity of 4278 cubic metres, got into trouble after leaving Berth 5 at Valero Oil Refinery, in Milford Haven at 2048HRS on Wednesday evening (Feb 17).

The ageing ship, the Seagas Major, was incapacitated and drifting outside the harbour limits, and two tugboats were sent to stand-by and assist if possible. However, they were not able to tow the vessel back into port.

A source close to the incident told The Herald that the coastguard are overseeing the contracting-in of a large Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV)  from France, to rescue the 22-year-old tanker, which is now precariously anchored off Manobier in heavy seas.

Milford Haven’s current fleet of harbour tugs are not able to assist, its understood, due to the bad weather, and lack of a boat which can tow from the stern.

The relevant authorities will have been put on standby in case of any pollution arising from the incident.

It is understood that a pilot was onboard the vessel at the time of the breakdown. In heavy seas the harbour pilot stays on board a vessel and disembarks at another safer port. This is called “carrying over”

The Herald has contacted Valero, The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Pembrokeshire County Council and Milford Haven Port Authority for a comment.

Location of the stricken tanker

RESCUE TUGS SCRAPPED

In 2010, the Government announced as part of the Department for Transport’s share of cuts in the Comprehensive Spending Review, that the ETV fleet would be no longer be funded by the MCA from September 2011, saving £32.5m over the Spending Review period.

The Department stated that “state provision of ETVs does not represent a correct use of taxpayers money and that ship salvage should be a commercial matter between a ship’s operator and the salvor”

Embarrassingly for the government, there was an incident which would serve as a stark warning as to the inanity of their money-saving plan.

Two days after the announcement that the fleet was to be disbanded, one of the rescue tugs, the Anglian Prince, was sent to the aid of the UK’s newest nuclear submarine HMS Astute, which ran aground in Scotland during sea trials.

The current tanker in jeopardy comes almost 25 years to-the-day since the Sea Empress disaster, when in February 1996, that tanker split at the entrance to Milford Haven spilling 72,000 tons of crude oil into the sea. The spill cost £60m to clean up.

There have been no warnings of any risk of pollution from the ship currently in difficulty.

Further reading:

Sea Empress oil spill: 25 years since Wales’ biggest ecological disaster – Herald report from 2021

New pilot boats ‘not fit for purpose’ – Herald report from 2018

Report concludes LNG mooring lines were ‘not fit for purpose’ following accident – Herald report from 2017

Video: Seagas Major previously filmed, video available on YouTube.