Shipyard decision for new freight-flex ferries expected imminently

A DECISION on a preferred shipyard to build two new freight-flex ferries for the Northern Isles is likely to made in the coming weeks.

Transport Scotland said it was going through the “final technical and financial assessments” before naming a preferred bidder for the contract.

Four shipyards were invited to tender for the £200 million project, including the GSI shipyard in China, the Cemre and Tersan yards in Turkey along with Stena UK – alongside its reliance partner CMJL, from Weihai in China.

Transport Scotland’s head of ferry procurement Trevor McElhatton said they would expect to announce a decision very shortly.

He also told Tuesday afternoon’s Shetland external transport forum meeting that the project to build the two new ferries remained on programme.

Councillor Arwed Wenger raised concerns about the potential use of a shipyard in China for the project, saying that he “had a problem” with their involvement.

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That mirrored concerns raised by Labour election candidate John Erskine late last year, with Erskine calling for any Chinese shipyard to be removed from the running.

McElhatton said that he could not comment, given that it was a live contract discussion.

He added that Transport Scotland was “not too far away from being in a position where we can circulate a bit more information” about the freight-flex replacement work.

Work was also ongoing to analyse the 1,100-plus responses to a survey about the Northern Isles ferry service contract, he said.

Transport Scotland published two reports looking into the responses to the consultation on the next Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS4) contract last month.

Unsafe pod lounges and lack of cabins – Shetlanders call for change in ferry consultation

The consultation, which ran online until 20 October 2025, received more than 1,100 responses – along with 300 additional comments from drop-in sessions held in Shetland and Orkney.

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With the current contract – run by Serco NorthLink – due for renewal in June 2028, the public were asked for their views on what they would like to see change about the service.

McElhatton said that there were a number of comments about the quality of accommodation aboard the NorthLink ferries, as well as concerns about cost, capacity and reliability.

He added that they were only at the early stages of examining the responses.