Linga goes back to work

THE WHALSAY ferry Linga returns to service on Saturday morning after an extended break that has caused headaches for island commuters.

The inter island ferry has spent the past three weeks in dry dock in Aberdeen going through its annual maintenance programme.

Extra work has been carried out on modifications to comply with new safety legislation under the 2002 Stockholm Agreement.

As a result the vessel will now be able to carry her full capacity of 95 foot passengers after being restricted by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency for the past few months to just 50 passengers.

Linga fell victim to the new regulations that were enforced just before she was launched in 2002. The rules were introduced following the 1994 Estonia disaster in which 852 people died.

SIC ferries manager Ken Duerden said modifications carried out included sub dividing void spaces beneath the engine room and putting in new buoyancy tanks in the corners of the vessel.

The ferry returned to Shetland last weekend and was put through her final sea trials on Friday, allowing her seaworthiness to be demonstrated to a team of inspectors.

Having passed the test she returns to Symbister to perform the 6.30am morning run on Saturday.

Mr Duerden admitted the service had been disrupted during the past three weeks when the smaller Fivla stood in for Linga.

“There have been a number of people who have not been able to get their vehicles out on their sailing of choice, which demonstrates the shortage of vehicle deck capacity on the route,” he said.

Fivla will now go to Yell Sound to stand in for Daggri, the next inter island ferry to undergo drydocking in Aberdeen for three weeks from Monday.