Urgent call for ferry meeting
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.
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“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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