Tanker trailer plea
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• Huktra UK, the owner of two tankers washed up on a Norfolk beach last week (CM 9-15 May) is urging the Government to press for new UN regulations on traders used to carry tankers on board ships.
One of the beached tankers leaked a poisonous gas, ethyl acrylate, causing Norfolk police to evacuate three villages until the spillage was contained.
The tankers were washed overboard from the ferry Nordic Pride during heavy seas; two more are still missing.
Now Huktra has written to Shipping Minister Patrick McLoughlin citing "shortcomings in the maritime regulation governing the stowage of tank containers on board North Sea and Channel ferries".
The letter, from Huktra's managing director Peter Meyrick, is critical of the trailers used by the shipping company to stow the tanks. It says they were "tandem-axle trailers.. .designed for use on the roads carrying loads of no more than 32 tonnes.
"They are fitted with spring suspension and pneumatic tyres," writes Meyrick, "and their centre of gravity is relatively high, loads being supported at a height some five feet above deck level."
Instead Huktra wants shipping companies to be forced to use "Maffi" trailers, developed during World War II for beach landings. Meyrick believes they are less likely to have their chains loosened during heavy weather since they are of "rigid construction, with no springs and solid tyres. They support the load little more than two feet above deck height."
A Department of Transport spokesman says that McLoughlin is currently considering his response to Huktra's suggestion.