Trinity House, along with the Northern Lighthouse Board and Irish Lights—which together constitute the General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) of the United Kingdom and Ireland—welcomes the endorsement of the Maritime Minister, Nusrat Ghani MP, of the conclusions of the tri-GLA Fleet Review.
The tri-GLA Fleet Review was initiated to identify the optimum number of ships, their capabilities and appropriate ownership and management needed to deliver the GLAs’ statutory functions.
After exhaustive data collection and analysis, the tri-GLA Fleet Review comprehensively detailed all aspects of the delivery of the safety service provided within our waters by the three GLAs. It concluded that Trinity House—responsible for the waters of England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar—requires four vessels of mixed capability to provide both risk response, incident intervention and routine planned marine aids to navigation (AtoNs such as lighthouse and buoys) maintenance and offshore support work.
The provision by the three GLAs of AtoNs and their ability to locate and mark wrecks and other hazards to shipping—as well as managing the risk of pollution of the environment— remains a critical safety requirement for the UK and Ireland, helping to ensure continuity of trade to both countries.
The tri-GLA Fleet Review also highlighted the close cooperation between the three GLAs which allows the coordinated planning of seven vessels, optimising vessel positioning and tasking to ensure effective coverage. This close partnership is critical to the GLAs’ joint mission of protecting shipping, the mariner and the environment.
The announcement by Nusrat Ghani MP—made during the Department for Transport’s inaugural Maritime Safety Week (9-13 July 2018)—is a gratifying result for the three GLAs after several years of research and consultation, supported by a number of independent investigations, between the three sister organisations and the Department for Transport, supported by input from other maritime organisations and in close dialogue with the UK Chamber of Shipping through the Lights Advisory Committee.
Trinity House’s Executive Chairman, Captain Ian McNaught, welcomed the Minister’s decision:
“Speaking on behalf of our colleagues at the Northern Lighthouse Board and Irish Lights, I’d like to thank the Minister for supporting the conclusion of our Fleet Review; we have worked hard to create an evidence-based system that demonstrates very clearly that the safety of ships and seafarers in our waters requires a combined fleet of seven vessels. We are excited to start looking at how best to move forward with this mandate from the Minister. I’m also glad that this welcome news could be announced during the first Maritime Safety Week, which we are proud to support.”
The Minister offered her thanks and recognition of the contribution made by the three GLAs:
“I want to add a personal thank you to all who have been involved in any capacity in the project, as I believe it has already delivered significant gains. It has been a tremendous effort over a number of years from inception and as a result we are now in a far better place going forward. Maritime Safety Week is an ideal opportunity to highlight the GLAs and recognise the critical work which they undertake on a day-to-day basis.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
The General Lighthouse Authorities of the United Kingdom and Ireland are Trinity House, the Northern Lighthouse Board and Irish Lights. Together they have the statutory responsibility for the provision of marine aids to navigation around the British Isles. Their joint mission is the delivery of a reliable, efficient and cost effective aid to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners.
Please visit the following websites for more information
Trinity House: www.trinityhouse.co.uk
Northern Lighthouse Board: www.nlb.org.uk
Irish Lights: www.irishlights.ie
For further information please contact:
Trinity House:
Neil Jones, Public Relations and Records Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1255 245155 / email: neil.jones@trinityhouse.co.uk
www.trinityhouse.co.uk