Hans J Marter

27 February, 2007

MUSSEL farmers in Shetland yesterday (Monday) voiced their anger with ferry operator NorthLink after losing more than £100,000 in turnover, due to ferry cancellations last week.

Shetland's two fish markets had to be closed for two days last week, as freshly caught whitefish could not be transported to Aberdeen for processing.

NorthLink had one of its worst weeks since they took over the service in 2002 when the majority of sailings had to be cancelled due to poor weather conditions, an unusually high swell and minor damage to a water tight door on the ferry Hrossey.

This week, the daily passenger and freight service to and from Aberdeen is still being hampered with the Hrossey leaving for Birkenhead on a three week refit programme, which will add more cabin space on the ferry.

NorthLink managing director Bill Davidson and the company's commercial director Gareth Crichton will meet with Hansen Black of the Shetland Fishermen's Association (SFA) and Brian Isbister of the Shetland Fish Producers' Organisation on Wednesday morning to discuss the situation.

Mr Black said: "We had fishing boats steaming to Aberdeen and Peterhead to land, because we had no market for two days. This is not acceptable when you are working in an industry supplying fresh fish."

An industry wide meeting with NorthLink, including the salmon, mussel and whitefish industries is being proposed for next month.

Shetland mussel farmer Michael Laurenson who also chairs the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group (SSMG) said the ferry link to Aberdeen was the "weakest link" in their production chain.

"I reckon it did cost our business and the other farmers organised in the SSMG about £70,000 on lost turnover. The whole industry must have lost out on hundreds of thousands of pounds on this. It is a big hit and that is why I feel so passionate about it," Mr Laurenson said.

"All that we want is a reliable service particularly for our freight. That is all we are asking for. I don't think it is unreasonable or unrealistic."

He added that mussel farmers in the isles were keen to do business with supermarkets in the UK, but their efforts were jeopardised by the unreliability of the ferry service.

"Shetland will never get properly into the value added business until we have a reliable ferry service. It will not happen. Supermarkets want a seven days a week service," he said

Shetland's salmon farming industry said their operations were not affected too much as the poor weather had also hampered harvesting on the farms.

Ruth Henderson, the chief executive of the trade body Seafood Shetland, added that it was vital to have a diversion harbour where the NorthLink ferries could sail to in case of them having difficulties entering Aberdeen.

She said: "The recent disruptions to the ferry service have been difficult for the seafood industry. As a result, representation is being made to urge the Scottish Executive to establish contingency measures to cover the occasions when tidal and weather conditions prevent entry to Aberdeen Harbour.

"Seafood from Shetland has an excellent reputation in the marketplace and we will do everything we can to ensure that the exceptional service that our members deliver to their customers is not compromised in any way."

Last night, Bill Davidson said he was well aware of the fact that businesses had been affected by the disruptions, but the company would under no circumstances compromise the safety of their vessels and crew just to get seafood to the market.

"Last week saw some severe weather conditions in the North Sea, in particular a significant south easterly swell which affected both the conditions of passage and access in and out of Aberdeen harbour," he said.

"As ever in these situations, the decision as to whether our ferries sail is taken by the masters of those vessels. They are the real experts in this and we have complete confidence in their decisions which are taken with the safety of our passengers and crew, our vessels and their cargos at the forefront of their minds.

"We are acutely aware of the disruption caused by cancellations to our passengers and freight customers and apologise for inconvenience caused, but we will not compromise on the safety of our vessels and those who sail on them."

Andrew Charles, a director of the Scottish Seafood Processors' Federation, has called for a public inquiry into the matter.

As NorthLink was in receipt of subsidies to run its service, the public had a right to know why the service was disrupted, he said.

"There is more to this than just weather and while the ferry company are meeting Shetland processors I am proposing we have a meeting with the ferry company down here as well. I also want a public inquiry to find out why this has happened," he said.

During last week, NorthLink cancelled a total ten sailings of its two passenger and two freight vessels.