Pentalina: Investigation demanded into safety certificate of grounded ferry amid 'pressure' claims

An investigation into the certification of a ferry which ran aground in Orkney should examine whether undue pressure was placed on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to help CalMac reduce pressure on its fleet, MSPs have said.

Pentalina aground at St Margaret's Hope on Saturday. Picture: RNLI/Longhope RNLI

Scottish Conservative transport spokesperson, Graham Simpson and Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for the Orkney Islands both raised concerns about the granting of the ship’s safety certificate.

Transport minister Kevin Stewart said an investigation into the incident should be completed “sooner rather than later” but confirmed the vessel would be out of action until Wednesday at the earliest.

He also was criticised for the “understatement of the year” when he said the situation with Scotland’s ferry network was “not brilliant”.

A government statement on the incident is expected in Holyrood on Tuesday.

Smoke was detected in the engine room of the MV Pentalina on Saturday night before it became grounded near the village of St Margaret’s Hope on the island, leading to the evacuation of 60 passengers, including three children and an infant.

Helen Inkster, managing director of operator Pentland Ferries, said all passengers were “safe and well” when they were evacuated, with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) conducting a survey before the Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) are expected on Tuesday.

Initial reports suggest the ferry suffered from a “sudden mechanical failure”, according to the MCA.

The incident happened around a fortnight after the vessel had been granted a passenger ship safety certificate on April 18. This allowed Pentland Ferries to release the MV Alfred from service and into its agreed lease by CalMac.

This was organised by Scottish Government ministers to help fortify the west coast ferry fleet, but is costing taxpayers around £1m a month.

The timing of the incident and the certificate being granted, however, has prompted suspicion from some in the islands.

Orkney MSP Liam McArthur said there were suggestions from locals on the islands that the MCA had been forced to rush the certification of the Pentalina in order to speed up the release of the Alfred.

“I think the difficulty for the MCA is that amongst the wider public that is the sort of suspicion that there may be,” he said.

"Now it may eventually come to pass that the MCA can provide the assurance that the public here are certainly looking for, but nevertheless I think those questions do remain.

"I appreciate it may take some days before we can get to the bottom of what happened but also the process the MCA went through in certifying this vessel.”

Scottish Tory transport spokesperson, Graham Simpson, echoed concerns about the short time between the incident and the granting of the certificate.

“I’m on the same page as the RMT on this,” he said.

“There needs to be a full investigation into what’s gone on, why was that vessel given approval, only to then break down?”

Both MSPs also went on the criticise the wider resilience of Scotland’s ferry network, with Mr McArthur labelling it “threadbare” and Mr Simpson calling it a “shambles”.

The Liberal Democrat said SNP ministers were out of touch about the scale of the disruption caused by the ferry network’s lack of reliability.

He said: “As any islander would be able to tell them, the situation isn’t just ‘not brilliant, it’s having a profoundly damaging impact on island communities both in the north and the west

“There are serious questions for the Government here, which is why I have called for the Transport Minister to come to parliament on Tuesday to answer questions on this matter.

“As well as addressing the loss of freight and passenger capacity on the Pentland Firth, the Minister will also need to respond to concerns within the local community that the urgency with which the vessel was required to enter service had a bearing on events at the weekend.”

Mr Simpson said the “not brilliant” comment was an understatement, instead calling service levels “absolutely disgraceful”.

The Tory MSP said: “Even before this incident in Orkney, successive SNP transport ministers – including Humza Yousaf – have presided over shambles after shambles.

“Kevin Stewart may be new to the job, but he can’t dodge the SNP Government’s responsibility for years of indifference and betrayal of islanders.

“New lifeline ferries are still not in operation six years on from a fake launch. This has led to our island communities being increasingly cut-off from the mainland which has had a devastating impact on their economies.

“Kevin Stewart must quickly up his game and finally get a grip on this ferry fiasco that his party is wholly responsible for.”

Islanders have faced regular disruption to sailings, mostly on routes operated by Scottish Government-owned operator CalMac partly due to its ageing fleet of vessels.

The problems have been compounded by delays and cost overruns for two ferries being built at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, while another vessel – the MV Pentalina – ran aground on Saturday due to a mechanical failure, cancelling all sailings for an unspecified time.

Asked if the root of the problems with ferries lies in the handling of Ferguson Marine, transport minister Kevin Stewart said: “The Ferguson situation has not helped in terms of the situation we’re facing just now.

“But we have got six ferries that will be coming online soon.

“And that is required to ensure that our islands are well connected.

“What we have at the moment is not brilliant for many islanders.”

Pushed on whether his comments were “an understatement”, Mr Stewart went further, saying it is “not good at all” and that he has “spent all of my time almost since I’ve taken up this post to make sure that resilience is there”.

He added: “We have to do better at this, I recognise that. That is why we’re investing £600 million in new ferries, to ensure that we get this right for islanders.”

Specifically commenting on the Pentalina grounding, Mr Stewart said it was a “reserved matter” but called on any investigation to be completed “sooner rather than later”.

He added: “This is obviously of great interest, not only to (the MCA and MAIB), but to the Scottish Government, the likes of Orkney Islands Council and others.

“We have to get to the bottom of what happened here.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson reiterated that it was “not aware of any pressure being put on the MCA”, adding the government did not believe the MCA would “respond to any such pressure”.

They said: “We need to await the detail of any investigation undertaken by the MAIB and speculation at this point is unhelpful. We are grateful to all parties involved in the incident on Saturday and the Minister has written to key responders to thank them for their effort.

“The current priority is for Pentland Ferries to assess the condition of the vessel and any next steps to determine when she can return to service on the Pentland Firth. All parties will work to minimise disruption to services to Orkney and Parliament will be kept updated.”

They added the government is “committed” to completing the two ferries being built at Ferguson Marine and plans to invest £700m in Scotland’s ferry infrastructure.

CalMac said the matter of the certification of the Pentalina was a matter for the MCA only when asked to comment on suggestions of “pressure”.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “The Maritime and Coastguard Agency, in conjunction with the vessel’s Classification Society, completed surveys on the vessel Pentalina on the 18th April and issued a Passenger Ship Safety Certificate; at this time the vessel met the standards required for issue of this certificate.”