Rosyth-Zeebrugge Ferry Service
Tonight's members' business debate is on motion S1M-2300, in the name of Bruce Crawford, on the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry service.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes that the process to secure appropriate funding, including a freight facilities grant, to support a direct ferry service between Rosyth and Zeebrugge is at a crucial and sensitive stage; believes that the introduction of this service is even more vital because of the expected downturn in the Scottish economy in terms of both trade and travel impacts, and therefore considers that the Scottish Executive as a matter of urgency should use all the resources and persuasive powers at its disposal to see this project through to a positive conclusion.
First, I thank everyone who signed the motion for this evening's debate.
It is now 23 months since we debated this subject, when a motion of mine was selected. Safe to say that in the early days in December 1999 there was a lot of youthful enthusiasm about our vision for the development of a roll-on-roll-off ferry service from Rosyth to the continent and the speed with which it could be achieved.
We are a bit more hard-bitten and cynical these days. We are certainly frustrated about how long it takes for the wheels of progress to turn.
The purpose of my motion is to ensure that parties in Scotland are seen to be pulling in the same direction, to ensure that a Rosyth to Zeebrugge service becomes a reality, to provide a focus for all our efforts and not only to see the service operating but to give it every chance of being the undoubted success that it can be.
It was also my intention to ensure that nobody—the Government and the various agencies in particular—sits back on their laurels, pats themself on the back and thinks, "That's that then. The service is on its way. We can all relax now." This is not the time for relaxation; it is a time for even greater effort if the port of Rosyth is to deliver all that it can for the Scottish economy.
Last time we debated this subject I talked about the development of the ferry service being important because of the high level of exports that our small nation sends to the continent. If that was important in December 1999, it is certainly doubly important now. In December 1999 the economy was at the peak of its cycle. Since then, there has been a general economic slow-down, which has been made much worse by the horrific events of 11 September and the current conflict in Afghanistan.
The development of the Rosyth port will produce an immediate benefit through the creation of construction jobs. The improved access to our major trading partners in Europe that will be created can only enhance the competitiveness of Scotland's exporting companies and provide a much-needed boost to Scotland's tourism.
What has happened since December 1999? Action has been taken and movement has been achieved, albeit that it has probably proved to be more challenging than the "future challenges" that the Minister for Transport and Planning outlined at that time. There has been a study of the market, an examination of how best to attract ferry operators and a competition to select an operator—and Superfast Ferries from Greece has been selected.
I pay a sincere tribute to the owners and management of Superfast, who have conducted themselves with the utmost dignity and patience as the story of securing the vital resources for the required infrastructure at Rosyth has ground wearily along. When, in May, Superfast brought its magnificent new ferry to Rosyth to demonstrate its product, it effectively threw down the gauntlet to the Government to deliver the cash to do the job. Superfast declared loud and clear that it has the ambition to invest in the potential of Rosyth. It was up to the Government to match that ambition. Without Superfast's commitment and professionalism, I doubt whether the project would be as near to potential lift-off as it is now.
That message from Superfast should have provided a wake-up call to everyone in the Government to ensure that they did what was required when it was required, but since May there has been rumour after rumour about delay, failure to submit applications timeously, contracts being late going out for tender and behind the scenes shenanigans. For example, everyone will know by now that, in a disgraceful attempt to protect Hull, P & O and the Associated British Ports tried hard to stop the £12 million freight facilities grant from the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions being allocated to Rosyth.
Thankfully, the attempt was to no avail and we heard yesterday that the £12 million cheque has now been signed. Unfortunately, it has not yet been posted—and cannot be until the European Commission gives the go-ahead. I do not know who put the bite on the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, although I could have a pretty good guess about who it would be—there are some major players in Fife. Whoever it was, I say well done to them.
I have it on pretty good authority that EC approval is all but a formality. It is required only to tick a few boxes, and approval will be forthcoming in the next two or three weeks. What intrigues me, if EC approval is such a formality, is why it is suddenly an issue now. Why are we dealing with the signing-off process at the 11th hour? If all that had been dealt with earlier, the recent anxieties could have been avoided.
The questions that I would like the minister to answer this evening are these: who is responsible for the clearance from the EC—the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions or the Scottish Executive? Has the official request been submitted to the EC? If so, on what date? These are important questions as the plan could still go badly wrong if the crucial deadlines are not met.
I will conclude by laying down three challenges to help ensure that Rosyth is able, for Scotland's sake, to reach its full potential. Let us make sure that Wendy Alexander kicks a few butts in VisitScotland to ensure that, in the next couple of weeks, it is active in Holland, Belgium and the low countries, selling the new direct service into Scotland. Get VisitScotland to contact all Scotland's tour operators to help finance supplementary brochures to advertise the service. Undoubtedly, because of the delays, brochures will be produced that will contain no information about the direct route. That initiative is important to ensuring that it gets off to a good start.
I ask Lewis Macdonald or Sarah Boyack to go to the Baltic and Scandinavian countries and sell the benefits of the direct service to Rosyth to those countries. They should do their Christmas shopping in Tallinn or Copenhagen, get them on board and bring Scotland home a present that we could all do with.
It is time to sort out the mess that is the missing rail link from Dunfermline to Stirling. It is vital to creating the freight transport hub that can bring added value to the way we do business with Europe and can help get freight off our roads. When all that has been achieved, ministers can tell their civil servants that the programme has been delivered and that they can relax and perhaps even take an afternoon off. In the meantime, in anticipation of the EC approval, it would be churlish of me not to say well done to Sarah Boyack. I know that it may have been a struggle, but, in the end, it will all be worth while.
As Bruce Crawford said, there is a touch of déjà vu about this debate as, in December 1999, we discussed the potential for an international ferry port in the Rosyth area. I spoke after Bruce Crawford in that debate and am glad to do so again today. It is appropriate that I am the second member to speak, as Rosyth is in my constituency. I was pleased to sign Bruce Crawford's motion when it was lodged because I welcome the spirit in which it was introduced, which is one of working together for the advancement of the project. Indeed, on the day the motion was lodged, I asked an oral question in the chamber, asking the Executive what progress was being made, given that a number of MSPs in Fife were concerned about delays in the project.
Everyone welcomes the announcement yesterday of the investment of £12 million that we hope will ensure that the service will commence next year. Over the years, many organisations and people have played an important part in achieving this goal, not least the leader and vice-convener of Fife Council and Bill Taylor, who is the ex corporate manager of Fife Council. They are in the gallery tonight and have all worked hard since the days of Fife Regional Council to ensure that this tremendous opportunity for the east of Scotland goes ahead.
In my speech last year, I said that this is a strategic matter for Scotland rather than just for Fife as it would provide a much-needed resource that would cut down travel time to our nearest major ferry port, Hull, and make a strategic improvement to the Scottish transport infrastructure.
Bruce Crawford was perhaps slightly dismissive of the work that has been done in the past two years to deliver the project. For example, the Scottish Executive has done a lot of work to improve the east of Scotland's road and rail infrastructure. Only this week, orders were laid for the new eastern bypass around Kincardine village and a commitment was made to provide a new crossing on the upper Forth. We will continue to press the Executive and Railtrack's successor to fulfil the commitment to improve the rail link from Dunfermline to Stirling but, even without that rail link, Rosyth offers tremendous freight opportunities because of the rail links into the port. In fact, that is one of the key elements that made Rosyth an attractive base for the international ferry port.
Bruce Crawford is right to highlight the importance of passenger traffic. Let us be honest: the success or otherwise of the project will be the amount of freight traffic that we can attract to Rosyth. That is why the work that has been done behind the scenes is important. That work has been to encourage freight operators to see the Rosyth development for what it is: a tremendous opportunity to cut down road traffic through the north of England to Hull and a much clearer link for the north of England and Scotland to continental Europe.
A number of people have worked hard to achieve the project. Our Westminster colleagues from Fife have been tireless in their harrying, shall we say, of the DTLR to ensure the grant and that it is supported by the European Union. I have no doubt that the announcement that the Secretary of State for Scotland made yesterday will mean that, as of next May, not just freight traffic but passenger traffic will leave from the kingdom of Fife to continental Europe. All members welcome that.
I commend Bruce Crawford for lodging the motion and for his doggedness in pursuing the issue over a year or two. It gives me pleasure to say that the Conservatives support the motion and look forward to the roll-on-roll-off ferry coming on stream next May.
It is important to the economy of Mid Scotland and Fife, particularly Dunfermline and the surrounding area, that the ferry link is in place next year. It will assist the tourism industry in Fife, Perthshire and Angus, which has suffered some dismal seasons in recent years. Over the past couple of weeks, I have met the chief executives of Perthshire Tourist Board and Angus & Dundee Tourist Board. Both of them stressed to me the importance of the fast ferry link to Europe being in place by the start of the next summer season. Perthshire Tourist Board in particular is optimistic that it will benefit from the link.
Experience elsewhere suggests that visitors who drive off a ferry will drive for an hour or an hour and a half before they stop and begin their holiday proper. Perthshire is well placed to benefit from tourists heading north, as are Angus, Dundee, Stirling, Stirlingshire, north-east Fife and St Andrews. Areas further afield will also benefit; the more people we can get to go to the area, the more we can get to go further north. I know that my colleagues in the Highlands and Islands have been lobbied by tourism groups in that area about supporting the ro-ro ferry.
I do not wish to denigrate Rosyth itself as a tourist attraction, but the last time I was there it was pretty smelly. I hope that the town has now dealt with that smell. Perhaps the local member can confirm that for me.
I am only too willing to say that the problem with the sprats that got into the dock at the beginning of the year has now been cleared up and that Rosyth now smells like roses.
That is excellent news. I am sure that we would not wish the first experience of Scotland for those driving off the ferry to be a rather unpleasant whiff.
I echo the comments that Bruce Crawford made about VisitScotland. VisitScotland must get on the ball and ensure that it makes the most of the ferry link by encouraging tourists to come to Scotland. That means working closely with local tourist boards and marketing Scotland as a destination to our target markets. The biggest tourist market for Scotland is England. Most visitors come from the south of England. After that market, the biggest non-Scottish market is northern Europe—areas and countries such as northern France, Germany, Holland and Belgium. We must target the people in those countries. They are best placed to make use of a direct link from Zeebrugge to Rosyth. VisitScotland has a vital role to play and must begin to produce effective marketing campaigns now so that we can make the most of the ferry when it begins operations.
We must also consider how the infrastructure in Fife will cope with the extra pressure that we hope the ferry will bring. The Executive must examine the A985 on the north side of the Forth to Kincardine and ensure that it is upgraded to cope with the extra traffic. The Executive must try to alleviate extra pressure on the Forth bridge. A bypass for Rosyth must also be considered.
The extra jobs that the ferry service will bring will be a welcome boost to the Fife economy, particularly Rosyth. All that is left is for the First Minister to stick to the promise he made this week: that the target for the launch of the service is May 2002 and that that target will be met. The Executive and the Minister for Transport and Planning must ensure that there is no hold-up in the European Commission clearing the United Kingdom freight facilities grant that was announced yesterday.
The ferry link has a crucial role to play in the development of the economy of Mid Scotland and Fife. Its establishment has been plagued by no end of technicalities; that is the official reason, not mine. A lot still has to be done before the link is operational but it is essential that a date is set and that that date is stuck to.
I again commend Bruce Crawford for his motion and we look forward to the benefits of the ro-ro ferry when it is established.
I congratulate Bruce Crawford on obtaining this important debate.
The establishment of a direct roll-on-roll-off ferry service between Scotland and continental Europe, between Rosyth and Zeebrugge, is an immensely important economic and environmental short sea shipping project, as the minister knows. It will help to boost exports by connecting us, on the geographical periphery of Europe, to the centre. It will improve tourist access and, I hope, increase tourism. It will create 200 to 300 jobs directly. With the multiplier effect, it might create a further 1,500 jobs. It will also take freight off our congested motorways.
Rosyth is the ideal terminal at the Scottish end. Rosyth has all-states-of-the-tide access and it will therefore have relatively low development costs. I congratulate all those who worked so hard to bring the project to fruition—Forth Ports plc, Fife Council, Fife Enterprise, Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Tourist Board and, as Bruce Crawford rightly said, Superfast Ferries.
This matter is not delegated or devolved. It remains the responsibility of Westminster and the DTLR. I welcome the announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions of the UK Government's firm financial commitment and its willingness to make £12 million available to ensure that the ferry service goes ahead.
However, I have concerns if the service is to go ahead by May 2002. We are up against a tight deadline and I would be grateful if the minister could respond to the following points when he winds up.
First, we urgently need the European Commission's clearance of the use of a freight facilities grant. I understand that officials from the DTLR have gone to Brussels this week. When do we expect to get that clearance?
Secondly, there is the issue of the infrastructure that urgently needs to be put in place: the redevelopment of the quayside; the upgrading of one of the berths; the provision of the terminal building; the construction of access roads; and dredging adjacent to the quay walls. Is the time scale sufficient to enable Forth Ports plc to provide facilities to the standards necessary for Superfast Ferries to provide a first-class service?
Thirdly, what is the current position of Superfast Ferries? Has it made a firm decision on which ships will be used on the service? The company needs to be convinced that the facilities and infrastructure will be ready—otherwise it might commit ships destined for the Rosyth-Zeebrugge route to another route, which could delay the project for several years. That is the last thing that any of us wants.
Fourthly, once Superfast Ferries has committed the ships, will it have sufficient time to carry out essential modifications to handle the North sea crossing and the particular nature of the traffic that is expected on that crossing, as opposed to that on the routes that the company currently operates in the Baltic and the Mediterranean?
Finally, to ensure that the service has a real chance of success in the first year of operations, there is—as Bruce Crawford and Murdo Fraser rightly said—a need for enhanced marketing to publicise and attract interest in a service that we hope will commence in just over six months' time. The minister—and indeed UK ministers—must be aware that we need to work flat out to meet a tight deadline. We do not need any more bureaucratic hitches. I seek the minister's assurance that UK ministers will do their utmost to ensure that that deadline is met.
From now on, we will have speeches of three minutes. I will advise members when they have 30 seconds to go.
I will not take up too much time.
First, I congratulate Bruce Crawford on securing the debate and I commend the support from so many people that has enabled us to reach the current stage in relation to the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry. In particular, I welcome the representatives of Fife Council who have worked long and hard for the ferry.
Presiding Officer, you and I were in Estonia over the weekend and we were up until late last night. While I was there, I spoke to a Scot who owns an electronics company. He was excited about the possibility of the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry—he had not known anything about it. That backs up the need to market the service in the Baltic countries and the low countries, because many people will wish to use the service for export and import, as well as for tourism.
I am delighted that, at long last, most of the necessary approvals have been secured. Full steam ahead to the continent next year!
I would like to congratulate some politicians and officials for their tremendous and wonderful commitment to this project. They are the Minister for Transport and Planning, Sarah Boyack; the Deputy Minister for Transport and Planning, Lewis Macdonald; the First Minister, Henry McLeish; the Secretary of State for Scotland, Helen Liddell; the leader of Fife Council, Christine May; the Minister for Transport at Westminster, John Spellar; and John MacDougall, the former leader of the then Fife Regional Council. They all deserve our thanks and support.
A few weeks ago, the European Commissioner for Environment came here and talked to members of the European Committee, expressing support for the project. She pledged to do what she could in Europe.
One of the most critical arguments has been that the new link will remove from our roads millions of heavy goods vehicles, which will strengthen even more the Executive's strategy of moving heavy goods vehicles off roads and motorways. It will make businesses in Scotland very competitive with those from other parts of the UK at a time when it is critical that we move our goods into the heart of Europe.
The Stirling-Alloa-Dunfermline railway line will not only help bring freight to the ferry; it will make more passenger capacity available to the Fife circle line. I heartily welcome the link for that reason, too.
Early in the summer, I was privileged to be on board the passenger ferry that Superfast plans to run from Rosyth, on a trip to show politicians and businesses the very high standard of vessels that will operate from the port. The vessel is like one of the highest-quality cruise liners that sail the seas. Not only will businesses benefit by getting produce to major European markets more sustainably, but businesses in Rosyth and Zeebrugge—such as hotels, bed and breakfasts, cinemas and shops—will benefit and the ripple effect will be felt in the wider economy.
How exciting it will be for families, individuals and people in the corporate entertainment world to be able to take short breaks in or near Zeebrugge, with only the little effort of making the relatively short journey to board the ferries at Rosyth.
Politicians have made this happen, but they never do so in isolation from the many backroom men and women at the different levels of government. I appreciate that it might always be a risk to single out individuals, but like Scott Barrie, I would like to pay tribute to Bill Taylor, the former corporate manager at Fife Council. I also pay tribute to Mary McLaughlin from Scottish Enterprise, Alf Baird of Napier University and Mike Robinson of Fife Council. Without them and their belief in the project during its earliest stages in the early 1990s, I believe the project would not be happening. Alf Baird—[Interruption.] Are you signalling for me to finish, Presiding Officer?
You have 30 seconds.
I say to Lewis Macdonald and Sarah Boyack that the link will open up more opportunities to enhance transport policies in Scotland and that they deserve to go home and open a bottle of champagne. In fact, I have an even better idea: we will invite them to Dunfermline East constituency, where together we can open a bottle of champagne to celebrate all the opportunities for economic and social development in our area that the new link will bring. Well done. We in Fife are heartily excited.
I congratulate my colleague Bruce Crawford on securing the debate and I echo Helen Eadie's comments, particularly those regarding Scottish Enterprise, Mary McLaughlin and Alf Baird at Napier University. Scottish Enterprise is an organisation that is frequently maligned—often by me—but to be fair, the idea has been well thought through by Mary McLaughlin and her transport and area development department at Scottish Enterprise. They have persevered and they have been dogged in their determination, which has finally—I hope—borne fruit.
It is absurd that it has taken us until now to deliver an east-coast ferry service. I can understand why the principal port of a land-locked European nation should be located in a foreign land. I can understand why, for example, the principal port of Switzerland might very well be Rotterdam or Antwerp. However, it is quite absurd that the principal port for an island nation such as Scotland should be Hull. That port is not even proximate to our borders, but is located a considerable geographical distance away and, indeed, at the other end of a bad road. It is absurd that, in the 21st century, more than 50 per cent of the traffic going to and from Hull emanates from or is bound for Scotland. However, I am grateful that Mary McLaughlin and others have persevered to remedy that situation.
Although I do not like to look a gift horse in the mouth, the delay in implementation has been a bit like drawing teeth. The economic benefit of the link has always been clear and we should be grateful that we have finally got round to establishing it. However, we must ensure that the delays and impediments that existed previously do not re-emerge.
Where do we go from here? The question about the link has never been, "Will it come?" Rather, it has been "Will it stay?" Previously, a principal port was started at Dundee. It came, stayed for a short period and then went. As Bruce Crawford and others have correctly pointed out, we need to improve our infrastructure. We need to ensure that the Stirling-Alloa-Dunfermline line is opened and that there is a decent terminal, not merely a replication of Cairnryan, which is not the sort of place at which we want people coming from the continent to arrive.
It is fundamental that the port achieves critical mass. The doubt that the Freight Transport Association and the Road Haulage Association have about the port is that it will not run the number of ferries that would make it important for them. If somebody is in a time-critical situation and they miss a ferry, they do not want to wait 24 hours for the next one. The advantage of Hull is not that it is geographically proximate, but that if people miss a ferry, they can catch another in two or three hours and still manage to make up the time that they have lost.
If we want Rosyth to survive as a ferry port, we must ensure not only that we increase the level of service there, but that we build on it so that Rosyth becomes the principal port for the east coast of Scotland, tying in with the land bridge that has always been mooted from the west to the east. As Bruce Crawford said, we will then at long last again have a direct link to the continent, similar to the link that we had centuries ago with Gothenburg and the rest of Scandinavia. That will enable us to tie in with the Baltic, where the infrastructure for fast ferries already exists.
This is just the start. We must ensure that there are no further delays and that we build on what has been done so far for the benefit of Rosyth and of Scotland.
The problem with speaking almost last is that the previous speakers have thanked everyone involved so many times that the thanks begin to sound repetitive. However, it is worth reiterating them.
All members present must welcome the possibility of 300 jobs being created in Fife immediately and 1,500 being created in future. The achievement of a ferry link between the ports of Rosyth and Zeebrugge will have a significance that extends far beyond Rosyth or Fife. All previous speakers have referred to the terminal's huge importance to the economy of Scotland. I do not want to be parochial, but I would like to concentrate on what I regard as the benefits of the link to Fife and in particular to my constituency.
As many members will know, my constituency covers a significant amount of the Fife coastline, from Burntisland to the Wemyss villages and Methil. We have a long and proud tradition—not just in Kirkcaldy, but in all Fife—of mining and seafaring industries that support maritime activities. Not least among those are engineering and shipbuilding yards, which still exist in Fife and, indeed, in my constituency. Such enterprises are key to the success of the project and are in an excellent position to advance it. Burntisland Fabrications has a wealth of experience and skill in engineering support services. I hope that jobs will come to areas that need employment.
I would like to draw members' attention to Fife's excellent record in training and skills. I do not say that simply because I am a member of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee. In Fife we have learned a great deal about partnership. European, national and Scottish Executive funds and programmes have been used to benefit the people of Fife and to enable us to offer a highly skilled, motivated and well trained work force. We will be able to respond to the needs of potential employers. I know that Forth Ports and Superfast Ferries will be looking for locally based staff. In Fife we will be in a position to deliver that.
I turn now to the overall benefits to the economy and environment of Fife and Scotland that will flow from the link. I intended to speak for about two minutes about those, but a great deal of what I had to say has been said. Since the early 1990s, Fife partnership, politicians, the business community, public sector agencies and private businesses have worked to make the case for the ferry. This is not something that has happened over the past six months or the past few years—it has happened over the past decade. The case for a link was built to a significant extent on the economic benefits that it would bring to businesses in Scotland and, indeed, to the north of England. Shortening long lorry journeys will have a beneficial impact on the environment and will help us to achieve national targets on sustainability and job creation.
I am being told to wind up.
You must if all members are to have a chance to speak.
The achievement of the ferry link will be an enormous boost to the people of Scotland and we all pledge our support for the project. I say to Bruce Crawford that I hope that in future people from the continent will come to Fife to do their Christmas shopping.
I ask members for even tighter speeches, if possible.
I am happy to echo what has been said about Bruce Crawford's persistence in the matter and to welcome the fact that Kenny MacAskill has finally said in the chamber something pertinent about Scotland and Scandinavia. I am also happy to follow our new lead spokesman on transport, Murdo Fraser, and his welcome for the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry service. The introduction of the service will combat Scotland's perceived peripherality and allow us to respond strategically to the perception that congestion on England's road network in the years to come will make it harder for Scotland to be a competitive location. It will also allow us to respond both to trends in growth in freight and passenger traffic to Europe and to open up markets that do not—and cannot—exist, but that can be created by the provision of the new service. I am happy that we have reached this stage.
My questions for the minister are, I hope, constructive. It would be useful to know whether the payment will come from the Scottish Executive's grant, given that the announcement was made by the Westminster minister. What year will that payment fall into? What effect will that have on other applications for freight facilities grant, given that demand is greater than supply? We would like to know about the delay in securing European Union support for extending freight facilities grant eligibility from inland waterway to coastal and short-sea shipping. Is it the case that that is a formality? If so, why has there been a delay? When can we expect an announcement and when can we expect work to go ahead on the ground?
Given that the potential exists for further delay, it would be useful if the minister could assure us that the service will be able to go ahead next summer. It would also be useful if he were able to advise us on what the Executive's role will be in promoting, marketing and carrying out all the rest of the work that will be required to make the service a success.
Has Superfast been able to reach a back-up agreement with an English port, or any other port, in case the European announcement is delayed? Has it attempted to reach such an agreement? If the announcement is delayed, can we be sure that the service will be secured for the future? After all, Superfast's investment, which will be substantial, is moveable.
Keith Raffan made a pertinent point about the ships that are to be used. There has been a lot of speculation that the ships that are under construction will be deployed in the Adriatic and that Superfast 1 and Superfast 2 will be deployed in the North sea. We would like an assurance that those ships are up to that work. I have heard speculation that Superfast has been considering the sale of Superfast 1 and Superfast 2, and I would like an assurance that that is the company's backstop position in the event that the service collapses, rather than a viable proposition that it is actively pursuing.
I see the time, Presiding Officer, and conclude by recording my satisfaction that we have reached this stage. However, we need a lot more information and we must tease out many more issues in the immediate future.
I will try to keep my remarks brief.
Bruce Crawford must be absolutely delighted that we are debating his motion in the context of the announcement and not in the context of pushing for an announcement. It is wonderful that the Gordian knot that was holding up the project seems to have been cut.
I am particularly pleased because I have been banging on for years about the fact that we have forgotten the potential for trade across the North sea from our east coast. For goodness' sake, that route was exploited in the middle ages. In a National Trust for Scotland property in the north-east, there hangs a portrait of an Aberdeen merchant who was called Danzig Willie, because that was where he made his money. I am delighted that we are beginning to realise that potential.
I have never forgotten a presentation that I attended on how Shannon airport developed. The presentation began with two maps: the first showed Europe, with Shannon on the edge of nowhere, while the second showed Europe and America, with Shannon bang in the middle. We should look at the map of Europe to see where we fit in and where potential exists. I am glad that the service will be a start in developing that potential.
The service is a great start, but much has been said already about the necessity of achieving critical mass and of building up the infrastructure. Having mentioned Shannon, I should highlight the fact that there must be strong Irish interest in exploiting a short land-bridge, so that the Irish can send their exports across tens of Scottish road miles, out of our east coast and into Europe, rather than hundreds of road miles through England.
Tourism has been mentioned. Scotland is especially suitable for car-borne tourists, so how much better that their landfall should be in Scotland? On a parochial note, I am delighted: it will be much easier to persuade car-borne tourists to turn right when they come off the ferry and head into the north-east than it has been to prise them out of the honeypots of the south and the Highlands.
I noticed the other day in a tourism paper that, on one of the Seacat crossings to Ireland, there is a fully manned tourist information service that enables forward bookings to be made for tourists who are going in either direction. That allowed two and a half hours' selling time on the ferry that would not be wasted. Let us utilise the 16 hours' selling time on the new ferry.
I congratulate all the brave movers and shakers and Bruce Crawford for the part that he has played. To Helen Eadie I say that I foresee trade developing with champagne coming in and whisky going out. I hope that that will happen.
This is a significant time. We have not had a direct link to continental Europe for many decades—even centuries—although we used to have one. We had great links with the low countries, the Baltic countries and with Scandinavia. I hope, as other speakers have hoped, that the new link will be the first of many and that the old "Fog in channel—Europe cut off" joke will end. I hope that the mentality that regards us as being cut off will end too. That would affect not only minds and attitudes, but our excellent export trade, which is formidable.
There exists in Europe a bank of good will towards us. Members of the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament have been here this week. There is a spread of nationalities on that committee and they were delighted to hear that there would be a direct link. That delight will be shared across the EU. After all, we were part of the Hanseatic league.
Representatives of Fife Council are here. They and I have some concerns about a project that will reopen our historical links with Zeeland in the Netherlands, which was run by Scotland for 200 years. We ran the divorces, the marriages, the debt courts and the criminal courts until Napoleon put us out. Clerks recorded everything, and a few of us got together—especially people from the Fife Council—to save the archives of Zeeland from the greedy hands of Amsterdam. There is now a museum in Zeeland that holds those archives. I have a title that was given to me by the Queen of the Netherlands: I am the comptroller of the Scottish privileges of Veere. However, I should add that I have no privileges.
Follow that.
Everything has already been said and everyone has been thanked. I would like to add my thanks. The ferry will be of enormous importance to the north and north-west of Scotland. I am sure that we will have many more tourists coming to the Highlands because of the ferry. Many German, Dutch and Belgian tourists already come by car. The link will increase traffic, especially now that we have LPG—liquid petroleum gas—for them to run their cars on.
Keith Raffan and others have said that we have to market this because it is a tremendous opportunity for our tourism industry. It is also a tremendous opportunity for producers of good food and other goods in the Highlands to get into European markets and sell, for example, salmon in Germany, where the Norwegians have the biggest slice of the market. The quality of our salmon should ensure that we do better, once we have this direct route.
I will be a bit naughty and talk about another overseas ferry link that will make a great difference to the economy of the Highlands and especially Kintyre. I speak, of course, of the Campbeltown-Ballycastle service.
You will have to do so quickly because it is not relevant to the subject under debate.
The consultants' report on that link is on the minister's desk and I know that there is strong commitment from everyone. The last attempt foundered on poor marketing. We now have investors to help us with the economics of the project. I hope to hear an announcement on it in the near future.
I congratulate Bruce Crawford and I welcome the opportunity that his motion provides to debate plans for a ferry service from Rosyth to Zeebrugge. From the contributions to the debate, it is clear that the initiative has widespread support. We in the Executive have vigorously promoted the service. We believe that it will offer great environmental gains and economic opportunities.
I know that Bruce Crawford lodged his motion immediately before the October recess and that Scott Barrie had lodged a parliamentary question that was due for answer at much the same time. I am grateful to all members for their patience in awaiting the developments that have taken place this week and for the positive approach that has been taken in both the motion and this afternoon's debate. That patience and perseverance paid off yesterday with the announcement by Stephen Byers that he is minded to offer £12 million in freight facilities grant to make the ferry service happen.
I will explain a little about the process. If the first requirement was the Scottish Executive's commitment to promote the service, the second requirement was that the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions be prepared to endorse the proposal and to make the formal offer of public money. We have reached that critical stage; the offer has been made.
Several members referred to the great economic potential of the direct ferry connection.
Several members raised the issue of the process and the role of the European Community in particular. I hope that the minister will address some of the questions on that that I asked earlier. It is important that we know who is responsible, when the request goes in and when we can expect the reply.
Mr Crawford may rest assured that those questions will be answered. I want to lay out the process and explain how we came to this point.
It is important to note that, above all, public funding support is based on the environmental benefits of transferring freight from road to sea. Those benefits apply to freight traffic in Scotland and England. That is part of the argument that lies behind the DTLR's consideration of the matter and its decision to endorse the award of freight facilities grant to a project that will have benefits for both sides of the border.
The scheme is also about the development of Rosyth and the regeneration of the area. As Scott Barrie said, local government has played a key role in that, working in partnership with private and public bodies to secure regeneration. The parties that are involved identified early the importance to that regeneration strategy of a direct ferry connection. We have worked as partners to bring that idea to the stage at which it is today.
We must now move to the third stage, which is European Commission approval for the extension of the inland waterways component of the freight facilities grant to include coastal and short-sea shipping routes. Freight facilities grant is a state aid and—as members know—state aids require EC approval. Therefore, Stephen Byers's award of FFG was conditional on European clearance. His officials and ours will go to Brussels later this week jointly to press the Commission for early clearance so that a decision is made and the scheme can proceed as soon as possible.
That is the crux of the question that has been asked by several members. Is this the first approach by the Scottish Executive and the DTLR to the European Commission or has an application or letter been sent earlier to confirm that such an approach will be made? Was that part of the negotiation?
Mr Crawford must take my word for it when I say that I understand why the points have been made, and that I intend to answer them.
Members will be aware that the submission that was worked up was passed on to us in May 2001. Then, the European Commission was approached in order to seek support for our proposals. Because those proposals involve an extension of FFG, they require EC clearance. Clearance is being sought by the DTLR and the UK Government—as the representative of the member state—in partnership with the Scottish Executive.
I am sorry to push the point, but it is immensely important. We must get that clearance, which is crucial to Superfast's commitment. When does the minister expect to receive that clearance? The European Commission is sometimes even slower than the Scottish Executive is.
You have only two and a half minutes left, minister.
Indeed. If members will forgive me, I will seek to make progress in order to answer all those points.
We believe that the DTLR's support will be critical in demonstrating that the Rosyth route is entirely compatible with fair competition. As the department of the member state, it is for the DTLR to pursue that application.
To return to one of Bruce Crawford's points, which was also made by Marilyn Livingstone, I fear that I will not be doing my Christmas shopping in the Baltic this year. It is more likely that it will be done, as usual, in Aberdeen. However, I assure Mr Crawford that efforts already are under way. Scottish Enterprise and organisations throughout Government are gearing up for the marketing effort that will be required as soon as EU clearance is given. However, we are not simply awaiting that clearance—tomorrow there will be a meeting between Scottish Enterprise Fife and the Kingdom of Fife Tourist Board, which has the support of VisitScotland, to begin to address those issues.
I say to Mr Raffan that we are joined in the gallery by Alexander Panugopulos and Yannis Criticos of Superfast Ferries, as well as by representatives of Fife Council. It is clear that the decisions that they must make about ships are matters for them, but they have committed vessels to the route and they have a schedule for work that we believe can be completed on time.
In response to Murray Tosh's queries about the mechanics of payment, FFG will be paid by the DTLR. Funding is in place to meet those costs, and it will be marked against the current financial year and the forthcoming financial year—that is, 2001-02 and 2002-03.
We recognise that time is short and we recognise the need for quick and urgent action. That is why senior officials from the Scottish Executive and the UK Government will meet Commission officials in Brussels on Friday to seek clearance. The Commission must move quickly. We need to convince the Commission that if the project is to be put in place in time—given the tight timetable that we face—it must make a decision quickly.
We do not regard that decision as a mere formality. We recognise that because state aid is involved, the project is rightly subject to consideration at each level of government. However, we are confident—on the basis of the case that we have made to the DTLR and to Europe—that the project will go ahead. We need the applicants to accept the offer that was made to them yesterday and we need approval to be issued by the European Commission as soon as possible. We will continue to press for that positive decision. If Tuesday was one important step, Friday will lead us to the next important step, and to completion of the work that has gone into the project.
Meeting closed at 17:52.