MOA Submission to the CMA on the difficulties caused by the withdrawal of specific sized gas cylinders by Calor and the subsequent critically dangerous impact on consumers, marinas, and the general public.
Dear Sirs,
I am writing on behalf of the Moody Owners Association, (with over 2000 members worldwide), with the full support of our Executive Committee and our Members, to protest in the strongest possible terms and seek a remedy concerning the withdrawal from sale by Calor of their smaller 4.5KG Butane and 3.9Kg Propane bottles in England Scotland and Wales. (The bottles are apparently still being sold on the island of Ireland)
Calor has had a near monopoly for over 65 years, (see figure 1 below) in the UK Marine Market. As Calor engineers and representatives sit on the UK regulatory bodies for Boat Gas Safety they have, over this time, influenced them to such a degree that tens of thousands of British boats have been built with Gas Lockers that ONLY fit the Calor cylinders that have now been withdrawn from sale.
Figure 1
This means that boat owners are facing a set of impossible choices:
- Use a different, but more expensive and lower capacity, gas with the need to change regulators, jets and lower levels of countrywide availability.
- Find a way to modify their yachts to accommodate a different size of bottle, again an expensive and difficult exercise which could compromise safety on board.
- This is a critical safety issue which, unless resolved, will mean gas explosions become much more commonplace.
Why is Gas on boats a critical safety issue?
Unfortunately, there are very few practical or affordable alternatives to LPG gas for cooking on boats which when used in a properly designed and professionally installed system is perfectly safe, but Butane and Propane are heavier than air. So, if a leak occurs on a boat because the installation has been altered or tampered with, the gas finds its way to the lowest part of the boat, usually the bilges, and waits for someone to flick a switch or other source of ignition. To mitigate this danger, properly designed and installed gas lockers have drains built in which direct the gas leak outside where it can dissipate harmlessly.
Background
Boat Ownership.
While owning a boat is often seen as a rich person’s hobby, most UK boat owners are older people who have saved for many years to be able to afford the simple pleasures that sailing and boating bring. Indeed, some boat owners are amongst the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK who have been pushed, by poverty, into living aboard a boat as the only means available to them of getting a roof over their heads. Whether yachts, motorboats, or canal boats nearly all rely on LPG for cooking and/or heating.
Calor and the Marine Market.
Since the early 1960’s Calor has been critical to the Marine Leisure Market. Every marina supplied full 4.5kg and 3.9kg Calor Gas Cylinders for customers to swap for empty bottles at a reasonable cost. Calor sold many gas products for the marine leisure market and had a dedicated on-line webshop to cater for marine customers at calormarineshop.co.uk. The company worked hard at maintaining relationships with British Boat manufacturer’s such as Hurley (see figure 2, note the row of 3 4.5kg Butane bottles) Westerly, Moody, Southerly, and many others.
Figure 2
Their engineers sit on the advisory panels of the British Standards Institute recreational Boat Safety Committee, and the Small Boat Safety Scheme Committee. The deliberations of these bodies formed the content of the current 2017 Recreational Craft gas safety regulations, and every previous set of Recreational Craft gas safety regulations going back to the early 1960’s.
Such was the close relationship and the monopoly Calor exercised over the market that the vast majority of British boats built in the last 60 years were fitted with Calor equipment and built with integral Gas Lockers that are specifically designed around the Calor 4.5kg and 3.9kg bottles. (figure 3).
Figure 3
Calor defend their monopoly with rigorous control of their cylinders. Customers do not own the cylinder but rent it for a one-time fee, the agreement precludes anyone but Calor from filling the bottles and Calor threatens legal action against anyone found to be doing so. Calor also insists on exclusivity clauses with retailers who were not allowed to sell rival gas products or cylinders. A colleague recently asked the Main Calor distributor on the Isle of Wight if they would be able to get a properly designed, refillable cylinder made by Gaslow filled at their Auto LPG facility. They were told no because Calor prohibits them from filling any cylinder except those provided by Calor. (See figure 4 and 5).
For 60 years or more no one much minded the near monopoly because the products were good, and the gas bottles were very well designed for Marine use. They were squat and stable in shape, with a good carrying handle and most importantly a unique integral, corrosion resistant, bronze tap on the bottle which meant in an emergency the gas could be shut off at source. In addition, they were widely available in marinas and at canal-side retailers for a reasonable cost.
Figure 4 Figure 5
The bottles are usually connected by a short hose to a bulkhead mounted marine regulator. This type of marine regulator differs from a normal camping and caravanning regulator because it is designed to stop liquid gas entering the pipework when the boat is heeling or in rough seas.
This market worked well up until about 2020. Then it became noticeable that there was occasionally a shortage of 4.5kg Butane and 3.9kg Propane bottles. Worried customers queried Calor about the shortages but were told they had no plans to withdraw the bottles.
Then customers and retailers noticed that Calor simply were not collecting these small cylinders. Every marina and gas stockist had a large cage of empty bottles but no filled ones for customers and no news of when Calor might collect the empties and provide refills.
Calor were not forthcoming with delivery information to their retailers who might order 20 bottles but perhaps only five or none would be delivered. One marine supplier related, off the record, that Calor were the worst of his suppliers by a long, long, way. He also said Calor delivery drivers had told him that their bosses had even instructed them to lie to retailers about the reasons for non-delivery.
Then in late January 2023, despite previous assurances to the contrary, Calor announced that they were ceasing the sale of all Gas Cylinders under 6kg from the first of February 2023 with immediate effect. However, anyone with a 4.5kg or 3.9kg Bottle would be able to exchange it for a 6 or 7kg bottle. The offer of a larger bottle was pointless because according to a survey conducted by the Westerly Owners Association, over 94% of boat owners cannot fit a larger bottle into their Calor influenced gas locker.
This unprecedented move by Calor has caused uproar in the yacht owners’ forums and the yachting press. See Appendix 1. After strong and sustained representations from these, the Small Boat Safety Scheme Committee, the RYA, and the Cruising Association, Calor relented a little and said that they had underestimated the effect on yacht and canal boat owners. The smaller cylinders would be withdrawn more slowly to give yacht owners time to find alternatives with refills available from main Calor distributors.
However, there were no real alternatives. Members also began reporting difficulties with finding Calor main dealers who had bottles available. People also reported that it was now difficult to find ANY gas bottles even those from Flogas, Calors main rivals.
Managers at Flogas, the biggest alternative supplier, have told colleagues that they simply don’t have enough smaller cylinders of the correct shape to supply the UK Marine market and their own 4.5kg bottles have a larger diameter and don’t fit many lockers designed to take the slimmer Calor Bottles. In fact, due to the shortages Calor’s cylinder withdrawal has caused, Flogas are now only supplying refills for people who already have an empty Flogas cylinder to exchange.
Much smaller Campingaz 904 and 907 cylinders are also now in short supply and the price has increased up from around £35 for a refill to over £50, There is strong evidence of price gouging by Campingaz retailers who are now charging up to £90 pounds for a new 907 Cylinder which is eye wateringly expensive, for just 2.7kg of Butane/propane mix.
Campingaz, designed for camping, is 400% more expensive than Calor. Many regulators sold are not suitable for a marine environment. The bottles are much smaller, made of thinner metal, don’t have an integral shut off tap, and don’t last nearly as long, so the danger of salt corrosion on the bottles could lead to possibly fatal results.
Calor has apparently told Stuart Carruthers, the now retired Cruising Manager of the RYA, that the fact that British Boats were built with gas lockers that closely fitted the smaller Calor Cylinders was nothing to do with them. As Calor representatives have been part of the Committee advising BSI on Marine gas installations on small craft and technical advisors to the Small Boat Safety Scheme, this is blatantly untrue. Calor derived advice has been in all the BSI and ISO regulations for LPG on small vessels for the last 50 years and is now incorporated into UK CA Recreational Craft Regulations 2017 which is the current legal standard to which both British and imported boats must comply.
Please see the Boat Safety Scheme regulations on gas systems on boats at Appendix 2. Note how Calor Gas are featured and mentioned a lot and all the photos are of Calor Gas bottles. If I were a boat builder, I would think that the Company whose products featured in the BSI standards and Recreational Craft Regulations and whose experts wrote those standards would be the make and model to build for. In any event Calor had a near total monopoly on supply in the UK such that even now, their biggest rival, Flogas have not even attempted to supply the marine market.
Please also see attached module on inspecting gas systems on boats. Note how often Calor Gas are featured and mentioned throughout the document. Southampton Calor Gas centre still sell specially made gas bottle lockers made specifically for the Calor Gas 4.5kg bottle.
https://www.socal.co.uk/p/4118/marine-gas-lockers/gasboat/gasboat-4118-gas-locker-45kg-twin
BSI PD 5482 was written by committee GME/33 and Calor Gas were on that committee as an expert industry representative. The RYA were also on that committee. As stated above, a colleague has had written confirmation from The British Standards Institute that Calor are STILL on that Committee.
The BSI committee who wrote BSi PD 5482 was GME/33
https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/committees/50000770
To quote Gas qualified Marine Surveyor Nick Vass:
“Calor Gas used to be the authority who were turned to provide guidance when designing gas systems on boats and caravans but sadly they have decided to withdraw from the small bottle market. This also affects caravan and campervan owners as well as campers.
Calor Gas were one of the experts on the panel that wrote BSI PD 5482-3 Part 3: Code of Practice for butane and propane gas-burning installations in boats, yachts and other vessels.
BSI 5482 was then adopted as an International Standard (ISO) and evolved into EN ISO 10239.
EN ISO 10239 is the standard to which LPG gas systems have to comply with when certifying new yachts for the Recreational Craft Directive (RCD). All yachts and boats built after 1998 had to be built to RCD standards.
After Brexit the UK was no longer part of the EU and so RCD CE regulations did not apply. However, they continued to apply as we had not organised a replacement system in time.
Now a new system has been devised but it is exactly the same as the European CE RCD regulations and the same standards have been cut and pasted into the new regulations which are now called UKCA Recreational Craft Regulations (RCR).
Please see Appendix 2 for the list of the standards that make up the British UKCA RCD recreational craft regulations to which all new craft sold in the UK must now comply.
As you will see from the list, EN ISO 10239:2017 has been adopted and approved as the new UK standard covering LPG systems on new boats. You will notice that it is the same as the old BSI Code of Practice for LPG installations”.
The crucial fact is that the marine industry has sized its gas containers to accommodate this size due to Calor’s monopoly for the last 60 years or more and for Calor to unilaterally decide to stop filling and producing them without allowing others to refill their bottles is anti-competitive. It also means that a whole industry has to change its designs to accommodate a different size of cylinder.
In fact, the trade name “Calor” is so ubiquitous that even the UK Government standards website uses it as a synonym for LPG. Do a search for “Calor” and you will be directed to the pages for LPG legislation; so I think their near monopoly and extensive influence in the UK marine market over the last 60 years is not difficult to prove.
My major concern, and prime reason for contacting the Competition and Markets Authority on my members behalf is a safety critical issue. Modern yachts are made of highly flammable material and a small fire can rapidly consume the whole craft with potentially devastating and fatal consequences.
If you look at the internet there are many very upset yacht owners wondering what to do about Calor’s sudden withdrawal of the smaller bottles. It doesn’t take long to find people on YouTube demonstrating their DIY gas locker modifications, or their own unique DIY way of filling 4.5kg and 3.9kg Bottles at home. There are also people out there filling Calor Butane bottles with Auto LPG which is Propane not Butane. They will then put that bottle on the boat not realising they need a new regulator and possibly a new appliance too.
In a recent Westerly Owners Calor Gas bottle small cylinders supplies Survey, which many of my members responded to, 11.1% of respondents said they intend to DIY fill their existing Calor bottles.
Filling kits and adaptors are easily obtained on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165165304890?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1Li_aVI_jQgeOahvzlzKlDQ51&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=165165304890&targetid=1816181028659&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9045790&poi=&campaignid=19090194174&mkgroupid=147009364227&rlsatarget=pla-1816181028659&abcId=9303860&merchantid=113800918&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpc-oBhCGARIsAH6ote9cGnGNkrI6Aqfy1NqceKvc8Wsm7-se_fubWSAPLDEsLegOgG-Jn18aAjyxEALw_wcB
With instructions found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHYpor_a0jQ
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=calor+cylinder+refill
Unbelievably there are even videos showing how to refill disposable Freon refrigerant bottles and there is at least one post on social media recommending this route as the bottles fit the space for a discontinued Calor cylinder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZcDKax_340
Even Calor themselves, are concerned by the increased number of people filling Calor Gas bottles as this page on their website shows: https://www.calor.co.uk/news-and-views/calor-concern-at-unlawful-and-dangerous-refilling-of-lpg-cylinders-at-petrol-stations
Due to recent price gouging caused by the Calor Cylinder shortages people are even refilling the Campingaz 907 bottles. https://youtube.com/shorts/-PDiTyDchNA?si=lncisFQ5b9AiG8EE
As mentioned above Calor are offering bigger bottles as an alternative but of course that’s useless as most yachts (94.22%) don’t have space to enlarge the gas locker and to get the work done by a boatyard to current British UKCA RCR standards would cost thousands of pounds.
So over 11% of yachts could be sailing around British marinas and ports with self-filled bottles. The bottles won’t have been checked and won’t have been filled correctly. In adverse conditions an over-filled Calor bottle can explode with fatal results. Furthermore, bottle thefts have increased along with full bottles and DIY filled cylinders appearing on Craigslist and eBay.
What we urgently need is for the supply of small bottles to be re-instated to remove the need and temptation to self-fill cylinders. If Calor can’t or won’t do it, what about alternative suppliers?
The only sizable competitor to Calor is Flogas. Unfortunately, Mick Wade Area Manager of Flogas, has said they simply don’t have sufficient stocks of small bottles to supply the yacht market and that the market is too small to make the manufacture of extra cylinders for the marine market economic, However, they do have the capacity to fill the additional cylinders. In fact, an ex-Calor delivery driver recounted how he used to take the smaller bottles to Flogas for refilling when Calor were experiencing capacity issues. My colleague was also informed that Flogas have offered to buy the discontinued cylinders from Calor, but their letters and calls have gone unanswered.
The crucial issue in this submission is to ensure that my members are not subjected to significant additional costs, unsafe practices, and dangerous installations, which impact on their ability to enjoy their sailing in safety. If Calor remains committed to their decision to cease support for the marine market, which they have played a major role in stimulating, they should not be allowed to prevent others from taking on that commitment. I therefore ask that you, the Competition and Markets Authority, require Calor to allow Flogas and Calor’s other competitors to rebadge and refill 3.9kg and 4.5kg Calor bottles. This will ensure that gas bottles continue to be checked and refilled by professionals at a competitive price.
My members contributed 309 of the more than 2100 responses to the Westerly Owners Association survey, which revealed the critical issues facing them.
72.24% of all survey respondents said they have found it difficult or very difficult to get a gas cylinder that fits their gas lockers.
Only 7.24% of respondents had been able to get a suitable cylinder under the Calor arrangement with main Calor depots.
37.14% of respondents have found it difficult or very difficult to get a larger 6 or 7kg Calor Cylinder.
94.22% of all respondents CANNOT fit a cylinder bigger than 3.9 or 4.5kg into their boat’s gas locker.
93.44% of all respondents would like to be able to continue to buy the smaller 3.9kg Propane and 4.5kg Butane Cylinders.
11.1% of all respondents said they intend to refill their own bottles to solve the problem of Calor’s 4.5kg and 3.9kg cylinder withdrawal.
87.42% of all respondents wanted their associations to write this letter of complaint to the CMA on their behalf. Many also said they intended to write to the CMA themselves.
On behalf of our members, and the safety of the public I urge you, the CMA, to promptly investigate this dangerous situation and that the CMA should seek to understand the safety implications of Calor’s sudden withdrawal from the Marine Market and the urgent need to remedy the situation before we have more gas explosions and serious injuries like the one in Conway Marina recently.
Yours sincerely on behalf of my members,
Roger Coppock MBE