MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

Headlines: Runaway truck hits farmhouse; No big change to shipping rates; MoD airbridge fare goes up.

Runaway truck hits farmhouseGERALD and Doreen Dickson's home came dangerously close to living up to its name of Wreck Point last week. The couple had spent the day at Goose Green at the annual ram sale last Wednesday and, upon their return home, had loaded 26 bales of wool onto a Foden lorry belonging to their son, Charles. The three, along with Doreen's father, Bob Alazia, and Mark McPhee were inside the wool shed shutting the doors when Charles realised the 20-tonne truck was on the move and heading for the house. The front of the truck impacted with the back of the house and pushed the outer wall in but stopped on the edge of the foundation. The house's fuel tank was directly in the truck's path and got flattened, but luckily it was only partly filled, said Doreen. The outside pantry wall was pushed in, causing damage to the inside kitchen wall and adjoining bathroom wall. The kitchen wall was pushed forward and fell near the diesel heating boiler and gas cooker, however both escaped damage. Exercising caution, neighbours were soon on the scene with the fire fighting appliance from the San Carlos airstrip. Two tractors, courtesy of Hew Grierson and Ted Jones, were used to pull the Foden away from the house to allow the damage to both the building and the truck to be assessed. Doreen said the damage was repairable and she and Gerald were back living in their house after spending the first night with neighbours. "It was an unfortunate accident with no one to blame and thankfully no one hurt," she said. "We've survived a lot worse." "Knowing Charles, I was glad he wasn't near enough to have attempted to get in the truck while it was on the move, as he may have been injured," she added. No big change to shipping ratesTHE freight rates for the coastal shipping and ferry service to be provided by the new ship Concordia Bay are set to remain much the same as those charged for the current service using Tamar FI. Revealing the decisions made by Executive Council on Wednesday, Councillor Mike Rendell said freight rates and the frequency of service to the outer islands would remain at the current level, with six weekly trips and the customer paying £34.10 per cubic metre. Included in the cost is the consolidation and delivery of cargo - £10 for the north-west and south-west islands, serviced from Newhaven, and £3 for the south-east islands, which will be serviced from Stanley - and this will be organised by the Development Corporation. "The cost to the customer on the islands is exactly the same as it always has been," Cllr Rendell said. When Concordia Baydelivers fuel to the West Falkland settlement of Fox Bay every six weeks, she will also make a containerised freight delivery, Cllr Rendell said: "Historically there is more freight delivered to Fox Bay than there is to anywhere else and it would be bonkers to deliver fuel but not freight. So you pick up your container in Stanley, fill it up with what you want and you pay £350, with a maximum weight of ten tonnes." FIDC is only providing the interim consolidation service for customers on the islands, not on West Falkland, Cllr Rendell confirmed. He commented: "Encouragement to the private sector to provide a consolidation delivery service will continue. There seems to be a growing understanding that there is potential for people to get involved - now we've got the prices out people know exactly where they stand; they can see that they won't have to charge the full freight rate and then put their consolidation on top - there's a margin there." He added: "Depending on how full a container is to Fox Bay people could be paying considerably less than they are now. [However] we imagine that people will be more expectant of getting goods more quickly, especially as there will be a ferry twice a week - sometimes three times; they won't necessarily want to wait that six weeks and will therefore start making arrangements to get things more quickly on the ferry." Prices for the movement of wool are still to be decided, Cllr Rendell said: "We have to make sure we're not stepping on the private sector's toes - SAAS currently ship wool from Fox Bay at £25 a tonne and we don't want to be competing with them." Cllr Rendell said provision is to be made so that Concordia Baycan carry out deliveries during the winter to remote locations on East and West Falklands if the roads are deemed to be impassable or unusable. He commented: "The commitment is there for that to continue. There was never any question that it wouldn't be, but people were worried." Ferry ratesCllr Rendell revealed the return fares for the ferry between Newhaven and Port Howard: a crossing for vehicles under six metres, including the driver, will cost £50 return which is the same as it is at the moment on Tamar FI.Adults who are additional to the driver of the vehicle will be charged £20 return and under 16s will be charged £10. No surcharge will be placed on vehicles less than six metres in length that were being used on the ferry for commercial purposes. A trailer under six metres (including the draw bar) will be charged £50 for the return crossing while a trailer under three metres (including the draw bar) will cost £25. If a vehicle weighs over three and a half tonnes, Cllr Rendell said, it will be charged by length - "£40 to the nearest metre of length." Fuel delivery charges to anywhere in Camp will remain at the rate of 1p per litre, gas bottles will stay at £2 each. • The new shipping service was the subject of a public meeting held on Monday evening. Turn to page 3 for the report. MoD airbridge fare goes upTHE Duty Fare paid by residents of the Falkland Islands on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) airbridge has increased by seven per cent, from £1169 to £1255. The increase came into effect on Tuesday. Councillor Mike Summers said the move did not reflect outcomes of negotiations on the airbridge involving the government (FIG). FIG continued to talk to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and MoD on the renewal of terms for use of the airbridge under a memorandum called the Joint Position Statement (JPS), he said. "What is expected to be the final meeting is being planned for April in London and will be attended by Dr Mike Blanch and Ms Sukey Cameron on behalf of FIG." Continued on page 3.