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Pete Bevington
10 March, 2010
 A
SHETLAND councillor has called for an urgent meeting with
the Scottish government over their decision to change the
NorthLink ferry timetable without consultation.
Lerwick North member Allan Wishart accused the government of
treating the islands with contempt when it made a surprise
announcement yesterday (Tuesday) that the two passenger
ferries must run on two engines rather than four to save
money on fuel.
The move will add an hour to journeys between Lerwick and
Aberdeen that go via Kirkwall.
The government expects to save about £1 million on the
northern isles route, which will receive a £38 million
subsidy from Holyrood next year. NorthLink’s annual fuel
bill is currently around £10 million.
Transport minister Stewart Stevenson also warned that
“further efficiencies” were on the cards, including the
removal of one of NorthLink’s two passenger ferries during
the winter months.
Mr Wishart said the decision would “outrage” the Shetland
community and demonstrated the government had no idea how
important the lifeline ferry service was for the islands. |
He also accused the
government of using the Shetland route to save money to pay
for the Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) pilot in the western
isles, a marginal SNP seat at Holyrood, which appeared to be
losing money.
Greatest concern surrounds the threat to the winter service,
where Mr Wishart fears that one ferry could be taken out of
service reducing the islands to just three trips each way
every week.
“That would be extremely bad news for Shetland and will
cause outrage in this community. I don’t think this has been
thought through, there is so much freight travelling on
these boats during the winter months.
“You can’t tamper with these things because they have a far
reaching impact on the community. There are social
implications for passengers, but there are economic
implications for local industry and employment in Shetland.
“The government seems to be showing a complete lack of
understanding of how fragile this community and this economy
is, and they really need to stop and think about what they
are doing.”
Mr Wishart called for an urgent meeting with the
government’s transport officials to explain how serious the
issue was. “They must not proceed until the council and
ZetTrans representatives have met them. I can’t emphasise
enough how important this matter is.”
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