Rossaveal pontoons collision risk : ThePost.ie


TCH Archives > Sunday Business Post > 2004/11/28 > Rossaveal pontoons collision risk

Rossaveal pontoons collision risk
Sunday, November 28, 2004 - By Kieron Wood
The government is to go ahead with plans to instal pontoons for ferries using Rossaveal Harbour in Co Galway, despite a consultants' report that warns of the risk of collisions with other boats in high winds.

The managing director of Island Ferries Teo, Paddy O'Brien, said the proposed pontoons were “far from safe for vessels, crew or passengers'‘.

The €6million development is being funded by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Department of Communications, the Marine and Natural Resources.

A British company, Dredging International UK, signed a €3 million contract on November 11 to dredge the harbour for the installation of three pontoons and the provision of a ferry-manoeuvring area by next autumn.

However, according to a report of simulator tests that were carried out in Britain last April, there may be “insufficient room for ferries to manoeuvre safely in strong southwesterly winds'‘.

The report, by independent consultants HR Wallingford, said the limited space available resulted in “a risk of contact with ferries on adjacent berths in strong winds'‘.

O'Brien, whose six boats carry up to 1,500 passengers a day to and from the Aran Islands, said that the former minister for the marine, Frank Fahey, had given an assurance four years ago that a new pier would be built at Rossaveal.

“We assumed it would be a solid pier along the road,” he said. “The decision to approve a pontoon system has amazed me.

“Unfavourable winds will have a huge effect on the safety aspects of this development.

“Due to the fact that the pontoons are so low in the water and the vessels are so high, the wind draught makes it likely the vessels could be blown away from the berth, landing up either on the rocks or on top of another boat.” A spokesman for the Department of the Marine said:

“The report does not question the safety of the proposed structures.”