South Hook LNG Ship Noise Community Group

And incase you don't know - BPM is best practicable means.

The 'Bu Samra' Samsung Heavy Industries Q-Max Vessel has been at berth over the weekend. Once it was idententified by the group as 'the' most troublesome of the six original Q-Max vessel delivered to Qatargas.

This was supported by fact it has twice identified as having noise emanating from it, which has amounted to a statutory noise nuisance by officers of Pembrokeshire County Council Port Health Team. This was followed up with the ships' operating company appointing noise consultants to assess the impact posed by vessels in the Qatargas fleet, early in 2010.

This was done by undertaking sound level monitoring of the vessels both at Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates and, for the ships which had visited the South Hook Terminal, at South Hook LNG Terminal Jetty, according to Pembrokeshire County Council Port Port Health Team.

These upgrades, have been a huge success. Such a success that a ship can go from being a 'statutory noise nuisance' to not knowing it is at berth. This is certainly the case of the the frequent visitors to the terminal over the first few months - 'Tembek', 'Mozah', 'Umm Slal', 'Bu Samra', 'Al Mayeda', 'Al Mafyar' and 'Mekaines' which initially destroyed the quality of lives of residents on the Milford Haven Waterway to the point that they were left wondering if life would ever be the  same after seeing the arrival of as the Qatargas Megaships.

The reduction of noise impact and complaints on these ships since silencer upgrades have been fitted proves that the noise issues with the fleet can be solved and shows that Best Practicable Means had been put in place and was effective on the fourteen vessels.

Other vessels in the fleet which were still in the shipyard prior to delivery, such as the 'Shagra', 'Aamira', 'Zarga' and 'Rasheeda' also received upgrade work to their engine silencers at the Samsung Heavy Industries Shipyard, but instead of fitting the silencers which had been successfully retrofitted to the original fourteen ships which were upgraded, it was decided to fit a different type. We have tried to establish why this was decided, rathhan using the tried and tested version, but have failed to date.

This has resulted in an even greater number of complaints on average with these vessels. The 'Shagra' once considered the nosiest ship to ever enter UK waters by our group, having six statutory noise nuisances witnessed by Port Health Officers from Pembrokeshire County Council. Sister vessels, the 'Aamira' and the 'Zarga' also have had Statutory Noise Nuisances witnessed.

What has caused the greatest upset amongst residents is the misleading information regarding the rescheduling of the vessels from South Hook PR team. In the last correspondence regarding the issue from the terminal a year ago, it was stated "significant efforts have gone into the scheduling of the chartered fleet in order to minimise, as far as practical within the operational limits that exist, and potential disturbance to the local community".

Ironically, three Q-Flex ships which have been mentioned as having noise-free visits, the 'Al Gattara', 'Tembek', and 'Duhail' have made very infrequent visits since. The 'Al Gattara' made its only visit previous to the letter being sent, the both the 'Tembek' and 'Duhail' has visited once since South Hook’s assurance that "every effort would be made".

In the same time 'Al Gattara', 'Tembek', and 'Duhail' have been sorely missed in Milford Haven, we have had visits from four of the now most troublesome vessels, the Samsung Heavy Industries Q-Max Vessels, the 'Shagra' on five occasions, 'Zarga' on six, 'Aamira' on six, and 'Rasheeda' on four. During these 21 visits, when Port Health Officers from Pembrokeshire County Council have been available, and the weather conditions have been suitable to witness noise issues, six statutory noise nuisances have been witnessed.

The issue was so servere that Pembrokeshire County Council requested that Qatargas Operating Co. Ltd. that they do not schedule these four vessels to return to South Hook Terminal until such time that they can demonstrate that the four vessels can be operated without causing Statutory Nuisance to local residents. It is unknown whether the request was received or acknowledged, as they kept on returning, with many visits from the 'problematic four' back to back.

Local residents also queried whether the list of vessels that were troublesome to local residents had got mixed up with those that caused no issues as it was apparent far more problematic vessels were arriving that those which have been silenced.