Two tankers that were bought nearly 20 years ago to safeguard Guernsey’s fuel supplies have now been sold.
The money raised through the sale will be used to pay off the remainder of the debt from buying them in 2008, said the President of the States Trading and Supervisory Board.
Deputy Mark Helyar told the States yesterday that the move was made to “rationalise assets”.
“The fuel tankers Sarnia Cherie and Sarnia Liberty were required because of concerns about the availability of suitable commercial vessels to discharge safely at St Sampson’s,” he recalled.
“Since then, specialist vessels have entered the market and are now regularly delivering fuel to the island.
“On the back of the review commissioned by the Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure in the last term and accepted by the previous Policy and Resources Committee, the STSB was instructed to dispose of both tankers.
“That sale has now been completed and will allow the remaining loan associated with their purchase to be fully repaid.”
The States of Guernsey had bought the tankers in 2008, with the tankers held in a holding company called JamesCo 750 Ltd since then.
The two ships were due to meet the end of their operational lives in 2027 and 2028, with both needing considerable maintenance to enable them to remain in service beyond those dates.
Rather than spending money on that, JamesCo has sold them both to operator James Fisher Everard, which previously chartered the tankers.
We will still see the vessels in our waters as the new owner intends to continue using both for fuel deliveries to the island.