Pete Bevington

23 April, 2008

SHETLAND will be calling for a major investment in the future of its ferry services when a Scottish parliamentary inquiry team arrives in the isles next week.

The islands want government help with building new inter island ferries and terminals, and an investigation into larger ferries to the Scottish mainland using a different port from Aberdeen.

Next Monday will see the Scottish Parliament’s transport, infrastructure and climate change committee holding a public session at Lerwick Town Hall.

The cross party MSPs will hear submissions from Shetland Islands Council, transport partnership ZetTrans, the island communities and the haulage industry. On Tuesday they will split up to meet transport users throughout the isles.

Last month ZetTrans chairman Allan Wishart submitted a formal response to the inquiry team, which is examining every aspect of ferry services across the country.

The ZetTrans submission raises several concerns about the current NorthLink service between Aberdeen, Kirkwall and Lerwick saying that there is insufficient capacity on both passenger and freight vessels and consideration should be given to an alternative mainland port which could accommodate larger vessels.

The council will need help with the estimated £250 million cost of replacing inter island ferries and terminals over the next 30 years, and is looking for the government to subsidise free fares in the same way it has dropped all tolls from Scotland’s bridges.

The islands are unhappy with the current arrangements when NorthLink ferries are taken in for dry dock overhauls, when importance is placed on maintaining the Hamnavoe’s service across the Pentland Firth while Shetland is reduced to three return sailings a week instead of seven.

Concerns remain high about the shortage of cabins, despite last year’s refit on the Hjaltland and Hrossey, and the excessive cost of hiring a cabin for 12 to 14 hour crossing.

Mr Wishart said the freight vessels Hascosay and Clare are old, slow and underutilised, and they could be more intensively scheduled. Passenger ships could operate an extra run during the day, he added.

Concerns were also raised about the government’s 30 month pilot scheme trialing the road equivalent tariff (RET) in the western isles, the legality of which is currently being questioned by Orkney MSP Liam McArthur.

Mr Wishart called for an investigation into running a ferry service to an alternative port than Aberdeen, so larger vessels could be operated, and for this to be completed before the NorthLink contract comes up for tender in 2012. Current capacity is constrained by the size of Aberdeen harbour.

The lack of concessionary fares on inter island ferries was described as an anomaly which needed to be addressed, as such concessions are available on all other public transport in Scotland, including external air and ferry services.

Mr Wishart said everything in the Shetland submission had been raised by local people, and the inquiry was “an opportunity to really emphasise these things to the MSPs”.

Last night (Tuesday) he said: “We really want to work with Orkney to highlight all these issues and bring them to the fore.

“We want them to understand we are the most remote community in the British Isles and transport controls everything that happens in the islands.”

He admitted these demands would cost a lot of money, but added: “If the government is serious about their policy to keep people residing in remote areas then there will be a lot of investment needed in these services.”

He estimated it would cost between £200 and £250 million to replace the ageing inter island ferry fleet and terminals over the next three decades, with some of the vessels already past their recommended working life of 25 years.

“Shetland can’t afford that, so we are going to need assistance whether it’s from Europe or the Scottish Government. These are the sort of things we need to start flagging up now, and this inquiry is a good opportunity to do it.”

The committee’s convener Patrick Harvie MSP said: "The committee want to hear about everything from the frequency, cost and availability of ferries to how they fit in with local transport links.

"We think it is important that local people in Lerwick and Shetland have a chance to see and hear first-hand the committee's inquiry in action.

"We are also keen to hear the views of ferry users, which is why we plan to hear from a range of local community groups who use both internal and external ferry services, regional transport partnerships and local authorities serving both Orkney and Shetland."

Monday’s public session begins at 1.30pm at Lerwick Town Hall.

The committee has already hosted a public meeting in Oban and individual members have gone on fact finding missions to Dunoon, Gourock and Arran.

A video conference with community groups from Lewis, Barra, Tiree and Uist was held yesterday, and the full committee hopes to be able to visit Mallaig on 20 May.

The committee intends to publish its findings during the summer.

For further information on the inquiry, log on to:
www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/ticc/inquiries/FerryInquiryHome.htm

Shetland’s submissions to the inquiry can be seen at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/ticc/inquiries/documents/SubmissionfromZetTransand
ShetlandIslandsCouncil-280308.pdf