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The United Kingdom's emergency towing vessel fleet were a maintained fleet of emergency tow vessels (ETV) from 1993 through 2011. The vessels were privately owned and operated for Her Majesty's Coastguard. Four vessels were stationed around the UK coastline, while a fifth was held in reserve.〔 〕 ==History== The first vessels of the UK's ETV fleet were introduced in 1994 following the recommendations of Lord Donaldson's report 'Safer Ships, Cleaner Seas' published in May 1994 following the MV ''Braer'' oil spill of off the coast of Shetland, Scotland.〔 Klyne Tugs Ltd of Lowestoft took over the ETV contract in 1999, and in February 2001 signed an eight-year contract to own and operate a four ETV vessel fleet, which in 2006 was extended by two years, to run until September 2011.〔 ''Sovereign'', entering service in 2003, and here near identical ''Princess'', entering service in 2002, were both built for Kline's in China, being sailed to Britain to join ''Monarch'' and ''Prince''.〔 ''Monarch'' was built in 1999 in Japan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Anglian Monarch )〕 Klyne Tugs was taken over in 2007 by the JP Knight Group, Britain’s oldest tug and barge company, becoming JP Knight (Lowestoft) Ltd. The tugs wear the red and white livery of the MCA, with the black and white funnel colours of JP Knight.〔 In 2010, the Government announced as part of the Department for Transport's share of cuts in the Comprehensive Spending Review, that the ETV fleet would be no longer be funded by the MCA from September 2011, saving £32.5m over the Spending Review period. The Department stated that "state provision of ETVs does not represent a correct use of taxpayers money and that ship salvage should be a commercial matter between a ship's operator and the salvor". Two days after the announcement that the fleet was to be disbanded, ''Anglian Prince'' was sent to the aid of the UK's newest nuclear submarine HMS ''Astute'', which ran aground off the Isle of Skye in Scotland during sea trials. As part of the spending review, it was also announced that the status of the Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG), comprising specialist teams of firefighters formed in 2006 from fifteen UK Fire and Rescue Services set up to respond to incidents at sea, would be reviewed, stating that "ships' crews are trained in basic firefighting techniques and there is little evidence that MIRG has changed the outcome of ship fires", and had not been involved in any significant incidents in its existence. A full cessation of the MIRG would save the Department £340,000 annually.〔 On 30 September 2011 it was announced that the two ETVs operating in the Minch and the Shetland Islands received a moratorium of three months with an interim funding by the United Kingdom's government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Kingdom's emergency towing vessel fleet」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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