Transport / Reserved ferry cabins for islanders may only be introduced in 2029
Move could cost Scottish Government £0.5m a year, FOI finds
RESERVING NorthLink cabins for islanders could cost the Scottish Government £500,000 in lost revenue a year, according to Transport Scotland.
New Shetland MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad has repeatedly called for NorthLink to set aside cabins for islanders on each sailing, to ensure locals are prioritised over visitors on the lifeline ferry service.
Goodlad made it a key election pledge, making a motion at the SNP party conference in October for a “local quota” of cabins and vehicle spaces to be saved for Shetlanders.
Transport Scotland and NorthLink have been discussing the feasibility of a cabin quota for islanders as far back as August 2025, according to freedom of information documents seen by Shetland News.
NorthLink boss Stuart Garrett told Transport Scotland they would be “able to deliver” the cabin quota, the documents show.
However they also seem to suggest that a decision on reserving cabins for islanders has been postponed until the new freight-flex vessels enter service in around 2029.
Agriculture and connectivity minister Jim Fairlie was warned that introducing a quota now would mean Transport Scotland would have to “compensate NorthLink for any lost revenue”.
In a meeting between Fairlie and Garrett on 28 October, the NorthLink chief said there had been “no engagement with the hospitality sector by those supporting the idea”.
He also said the move would affect Orkney too, “but no thought had been given to this either”.
Garrett advised Fairlie that the “potential ramifications” of the change needed to be considered.
“Holding back cabins could potentially block islanders from booking until the last minute,” he added.
Fairlie asked Transport Scotland in early November how the cabin quota would work and how much it would cost, with a meeting set up with transport officials later that month.
As an example, Transport Scotland analysts looked at what would happen if 10 cabins – five inner four-berths, and five inner two-berths – were set aside on the Aberdeen-Kirkwall-Lerwick route.
They said that this left 91.5 per cent capacity on the NorthLink ferries. In their experiment, they looked at how many sailings in 2024 had an equal or higher capacity than this.
These sailings were then classed as having lost money for Transport Scotland.
Transport Scotland analysts told Fairlie that the move could cost the Scottish Government up to £520,000 a year – but only if all the islander cabins lay empty.
In another scenario, it said that if all the islander cabins were used up every day then Transport Scotland would forego £120,000 in revenue.
It estimated that the annual cost of implementing cabin quotas for islanders would be somewhere in between these two figures, though the estimate was redacted from the documents.
It also said that if the cabin quota was higher than ten, then this could “increase the amount of forgone revenue”.
The experiment classified islander cabins as ones only able to be booked by someone with an islander discount.
It added there was a possibility that cabins could be reserved for islanders up until a certain number of days or hours before a sailing, and then could be released to the general public if they were not booked.
More information was given in the ministerial submission to Fairlie, which said there had been “increasing calls for islanders to be given greater access to booking cabins”.
While the options to consider for Fairlie and advice from Transport Scotland to him was redacted, the documents seem to suggest a decision was put off until a later date.
Fairlie was told that the new NorthLink freight flex vessels, expected to enter service in 2029, would increase cabin capacity.
“So the need for any quota should be reviewed again at that point,” the document said.
He was also told that introducing a quota during the current Northern Isles ferry services contract “would require Transport Scotland to compensate NorthLink for any lost revenue”.
“It is difficult to estimate costs, as an effective system should not see unused cabins and lost revenue, however, this is unlikely to be perfect,” the ministerial submission said.
“Even with 100 per cent uptake of the islander quota, it should also be noted that potential revenue from these cabins would be lower given the differential between non-islander and islander fares.
“Tourists are however more likely to be able to travel at different times, or potentially use a sleeping pod as an alternative to a cabin, so there is a possibility some of the lost revenue could be re-couped from tourists choosing alternative sailings or accommodation options.”
There was also a warning that moving to islander cabin quotas potentially would have “negative impacts on the island tourist economy”.
The documents also include a letter from then SNP candidate Goodlad to finance secretary Shona Robison and transport minister Fiona Hyslop calling for the quota to be introduced.
Transport Scotland pointed Shetland News to an answer on its website about cabin quotas when questioned.
It said the feasibility of islander cabins would be considered as part of the NIFS4 contract for the Northern Isles, which is due for renewal in June 2028.
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