Two more transfers take place in the Flow

Orkney Islands Council’s Marine Services team assisted with not one, but two ship–to–ship oil transfers this weekend in Scapa Flow.

The Alsace and the Sifa came together on Friday afternoon, followed by the Alsace and the Alpha Britannia on Saturday for the transfer of crude oil.

Brian Archibald, the council’s head of marine services, engineering and transportation services said “These operations require detailed planning and include the mobilisation of tugs and tanker crews, pilots, ships’ agents and facilitators, who all play an important part in the process.  The team worked hard to put in place the plans which were especially complex due to the size of the vessels and necessitated the chartering of a fourth tug. This was at no cost to the council.”

Between them the three ships were carrying close to 2.7million barrels of crude oil in total.

According to the OIC a recent measurement found that Scapa Flow is 125 square miles in area, and holds almost one billion cubic metres of water, making it the second largest natural harbour in the world next to Sydney.