MSP hopes news on islander cabin quota is on the horizon
SHETLAND MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad says she hopes to hear news on her NorthLink islander cabin quota proposal “very soon”.
She said it is “something I’ve been pushing hard for at every opportunity, and I do feel as though we are making progress on this”.
Speaking to Shetland News, Goodlad said she hoped there may be an update soon “particularly as bookings for next year have now opened.”
During her election campaign, the MSP repeatedly called for a change in policy to allow NorthLink to set aside cabins for islanders on sailings to and from Shetland.
It comes against continued capacity constraints on board the ferries in peak times.
She previously said that “tourists are very welcome, but not at the expense of Shetlanders’ ability to travel for essential reasons”.
As an example, analysts from Transport Scotland, which contracts the ferry service to Serco NorthLink, 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 said 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, given the difference in islander and non-islander fares.
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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.
Transport Scotland previously said the feasibility of islander cabins would be considered as part of the next contract for the Northern Isles ferry service, which is due for renewal in June 2028.
New freight vessels due to enter service before the end of the decade would also feature greater passenger capacity in peak periods.
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