Tug crash skipper was not qualified

A report into the incident reveals that the master, who was in charge of the Duke of Normandy, had a qualification from Panama, which was not valid in Jersey or the UK.

Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean, who has ministerial responsibility for Harbours, said that the master, who was Irish, had been supplied by a UK agency.

He argued that the agency should have checked the man’s qualifications, especially as he had been working around Britain for several years. However, he added: ‘It should have been picked up here as well.’

Mr Maclean said that the agency was still being used, but insisted that ‘lessons had been learned’.