Scotland ferries blamed for high carbon emissions

Ferries in Scotland are emitting 1,600 tonnes of damaging carbon dioxide each year, which is equivalent to nearly 16 per cent of all the Highlands and Islands emissions, it has been claimed.

According to consultant Roy Pederson, inefficient ferry design and long journeys lead to higher levels of greenhouse gases emitted per unit carried than by other forms of transportation.

“This is an extremely high figure bearing in mind the tiny proportion of the total of passenger or ‘tonne miles’ accounted for by ferries and is attributable to the inefficient design of many of Scotland’s ferries operating on unnecessarily long routes,” Pedersen said, adding: “To make matters worse, many Scottish ferries burn high sulphur fuel which, in addition to C02, causes emission of nasty nitrous and sulphurous oxides.”

Pedersen is also a Highland councillor, and has made his claims in a briefing paper that was sent to the government of Scotland as part of its ferries review.

He went on to say: “It has recently been estimated that by adopting more efficient proven designs of ferries, such as medium-speed catamarans, with a high capacity to fuel-burn ratio, the total emissions and fuel costs of the Scottish ferry fleet could be at least halved while actually increasing capacity and service quality.”

The government-funded NorthLink Hamnavoe ferry, operating on the 28-mile route between Scrabster in Caithness and Stromness in Orkney, averages 20 cars on each of its crossings, but carries very little commercial traffic, according to Pedersen.

Thanks to news.scotsman.com for the above quotes, for more information on this article please visit their website.

www.northlinkferries.co.uk