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BBC Scotland yesterday:
A faulty valve on a CalMac ferry led to a sudden and uncontrolled release of highly flammable methane gas last summer, BBC Scotland News has learned.The operator’s investigation found that 700kg of the gas – enough to fill a four-bedroomed house – was vented from the side of MV Glen Sannox over the space of 12 minutes while it was carrying 82 passengers from Arran to the mainland.
So much methane was released that some of it was sucked into a ventilation intake, setting off gas alarms in the ship’s generator room.While the risk of explosion is believed to have been low, CalMac described it as a “critical failure” in the gas fuel system and said lessons had been learned.
The propulsion systems for Glen Sannox were designed, supplied and commissioned by Finnish firm Wartsila, a world leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG) engines, who worked as subcontractors to the Ferguson Marine shipyard. Details of the incident have not previously been made public and have only emerged after a freedom of information request from BBC Scotland News.
This would, in other countries, be an astonishing amplification of a very low risk event.
I’ll deal with the: While the risk of explosion is believed to have been low, CalMac described it as a “critical failure” comment first.
Methane will explode only in the 5% to 15% but alarms will go off at 1% methane (20% gas vapour concentration) and 2% (40%) will lead to shutdown, nowhere near the explosive range. https://www.classnk.or.jp/hp/pdf/rules/amendments/e-Amendments/16.12.27/411_part_gf_e.pdf
Was there a shutdown automatically triggered by 40% LEL 2% methane cloud? No, engineers shutdown manually. so the risk of explosion was essentially zero.
Returning to the incident overall, this is closer to a layered safety system catching a component failure than to an uncontrolled disaster. A valve failed open and dumped a large volume of methane overboard. Gas was drawn into ventilation spaces and set off further alarms, and the crew isolated the leak by hand. Methane is lighter than air, so most of it dispersed rather than accumulating to explosive concentrations. An expert quoted in the piece said the detectors and automatic fuel shut-off appear to have done their job. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1mv50enz09o
A valve can fail open and still not produce a catastrophe if later safety layers work, as they did.
Finally 82 passengers on 3 June 2025? 82? Summer? The MV Glen Sannox can take 852, more than 10 times as many!
Sheesh! That’s a monstrous subsidy provided by the Scottish taxpayer, via that SNP Government, that some islanders never stop moaning about.
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Talking-up Scotland 
More a release ( again ) of hot air from the BBC than a threat from the escape of some gas from a ferry !
Which is the greater threat to the public ?
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Another example of Freedom of Information requests (this one by BBC Scotland) being used to dig up old information, arguably not worthy of being reported as current news.
The gas release took place on an early Tuesday evening return crossing to Troon which may explain why there were only 82 passengers on board.
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THIS TV CHANNEL SHOULD BE TAKEN TO COURT
FOR CHEATING PAYING PUBLIC
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DIRTY LYING BBC SCOTLAND
IF THIS WAS A CITIZEN STIRRING UP THESE FRIGHTENING LIES
THEY WOULD BE PUNISHED
BUT ALL UNIONIST PRESS ARE ROTTEN TO THE CORE
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You have addressed the issue of the likelihood of explosion – flammable gases explode only when the concentrations reach a particular level AND the gas is enclosed.
As you say, detection systems are set to detect the presence of the gas long before the concentrations reach reaches levels where there is the possibility of an explosion and there are often automatic shut offs but manual shut off is always available.
The gas was being vented into the outside, so most was being immediately diluted and dispersed. While some gas was being brought in by the ventilation system, it was in diluted quantities and was also being expelled by the ventilation system.
Before there was North Sea gas (methane), we had town gas, which was not only potentially explosive, but also seriously poisonous. Using hydrogen as an alternative was possible – it is flammable, but non poisonous and water, not carbon dioxide, is emitted. So it is non polluting. However, there was no investment in the technology to produce hydrogen and methane extraction technology had been invested in. However, the media reported that HYDROGEN IS EXPLOSIVE! They provided no explanation about the conditions for explosion of hydrogen, and hinted a connection with HYDROGEN BOMBS! Ergo, hydrogen is BAD!
Now trade unions, such as the National Union of Mineworkers were as hostile to changes in gas production as the petrochemical companies. In the same way that the thuggish leadership of the GMB is hostile to ending oil and gas production in the North Sea.
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