Bureaucrats blamed as fuel shortage threatens Islay's whisky distilleries

It could be a scene from a latter-day version of Whisky Galore. In the week of their annual Whisky Festival, distillers on Islay are close to shutting down their stills as a result of what they claim is "bureaucratic bungling".

Whisky makers on the island off the west coast of Scotland, including Bruichladdich, Laphroaig, Ardbeg and Bowmore, will stop producing their golden spirit within weeks because of a shortage of fuel.

Tankers that supply the island with diesel and fuel oil have been unable to land their cargoes because of problems with a new pier.

The trouble started when the existing pier was upgraded last year at a cost of £4m by Argyll and Bute Council so that it could accommodate larger, twin-hulled tankers, which replaced a single-hulled vessel after the introduction of European safety legislation.

However, the new larger tanker can dock at the pier only with a full load of fuel, when seas are calm and there is an exceptionally high tide.

"You can imagine that those days are pretty rare in this part of the world," said Mark Reynier, the chief executive of Bruichladdich. "Locals were all opposed to the new pier because we knew it would not meet the requirements of the larger vessels. Despite our protests, the council in its wisdom went ahead and upgraded the pier anyway. The issue of silting underneath the pier is not going to go away. So now we are going to have to shut down production of our stills."

The situation is especially embarrassing as the island's Whisky Festival begins today.

Shell supplies the oil to Islay and it is distributed by a company in Elgin called Gleaner Oils.

In a letter to managers at Bruichladdich last week, David Todd, the general manager at Gleaner, said: "We have to clearly state that we cannot guarantee supplies of medium fuel oil to the distilleries."

He told The Independent on Sunday: "A ship is scheduled to dock at Islay early next week, so there should not be any issues over the festival." Problems to do with the new pier were, he said, "an issue for the council".

Critics of the pier claim that local residents are having to bear the cost of its construction. Argyll and Bute had originally planned to secure financing from the Scottish Executive. When this failed, it imposed landing charges on the oil shippers. They in turn passed on the cost to islanders in the form of higher prices, according to Mr Reynier.

"This is a cock-up of monumental ineptitude," he said. "Shell blame Argyll and Bute's pier - and they insist there is nothing wrong with it.

"Loch Indaal is a huge, sandy, tidal loch and very exposed. So no surprise the pier depth silts up. I bet it will continue to do so until the loch has been entirely emptied of sand.

"But neither party would listen to our concerns. They approved their design as 'fit for purpose' when it plainly isn't. The island needs distilling, and distilleries need oil.

"What we have now is a pier that can be used only in calm weather, in very specific tide states, and then only receiving three days' worth of oil at a time. That's progress for you."

Residents on Islay already pay £1.10 per litre for diesel - more than anywhere else in the UK.

Argyll and Bute Council was unavailable early on Friday afternoon as staff had already left for the Bank Holiday weekend.

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