Transport / Council urged to upgrade ‘creaking’ ferry booking system
SHETLAND Islands Council has been urged to upgrade its ferry booking system as quickly as possible.
The council is currently in the process of replacing a booking system which is “creaking”, infrastructure director John Smith admitted.
However the new system is only expected to be in place by the end of July next year.
North Isles councillor Duncan Anderson asked if that deadline could be brought forward with any greater urgency, with the current outdated system struggling with the demand.
And Dennis Leask, member for Lerwick South, criticised the length of time it had taken the council to replace the ferry booking system.
He said councillors had first been made aware that there was a problem with the system last year.
Leask said it had taken the SIC an “amazing amount of time” to make any progress with the plans.
“We really need to move these things quickly if we can,” he told Monday’s meeting of the environment and transport committee.
However Smith said the delay had been because the SIC had focused firstly last year on ensuring there were enough staff to run the inter-island ferries, as well as work to the ferries themselves.
He said staff shortages causing ferry runs to be cancelled was “clearly of enormous concern to the communities” last year, which took precedence over the booking system upgrade.
In one weekend alone, the council received around 90 complaints about the lack of ferry services, he told members.
There were also “issues about the fleet age”, and about replacement ferries, during that time.
Smith said the “priority of keeping the boats running” had put the booking system replacement on the backburner.
But he said now that the ferry service was performing well again, the council would “try to up the pace and get a conclusion” in terms of a new booking system.
The project was initially due to begin in September last year, but only got under way on 30 January 2025.
Having been first due to be completed on 31 March 2026, that end date also subsequently slipped back to 31 July 2026.
The council said the consultant on the booking system replacement project had completed site visits to vessels, the booking office Sella Ness.
It added that “given the fragility of the current system, it remains a priority to commence with the replacement of this system as quickly as possible.”
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