Third time lucky naming Hildasay
NORTHLINK’s new cargo boat Hildasay was named by Shetland school girl Sophie Wishart during a ceremony at Lerwick harbour, on Wednesday morning.
The 122 metre vessel, formerly the Shields, is to replace the shipping company’s previous freighter Hascaosay, which is being sold on to Saudi Arabia.
Twelve year old Sophie, from Cunningsburgh, won the NorthLink competition to name the vessel.
The company had received 183 entries from around the world, with 20 people coming up with the name of the small island to the west of Shetland mainland.
A large crowd of invited guests including members of this year’s Viking jarl squad gathered at the quayside to watch the event.
Yesterday Sophie took centre stage when she joined NorthLink managing director Bill Davidson, Lerwick minister Rev Gordon Oliver and the master of the Hildasay, Victor Suhareus, at the bow of the vessel to perform the naming ceremony.
She confidently spoke the traditional words ‘I name this ship Hildasay. May God bless her and all who sail on her’ and then tried to break the bottle of champagne over her bow.
When the bottle failed to break after several attempts, Mr Davidson opened the bottle for Sophie to pour the champagne over the bow.
Afterwards, and after some cheerful singing from the isles’ own Vikings, Sophie also unveiled a commemorative plaque.
The 10 year old Hildasay, on charter from Seatruck Ferries of Heysham, is able to carry up to 68 trailers and promises to deliver a more reliable service to ship goods in and out of the isles.
Mr Davidson said it was quite a challenge to find the right vessel to suit the specific needs of the Shetland to Aberdeen service.
“We need a vessel that will fit into the ports of Lerwick and Aberdeen, has enough freight capacity and is fast enough to meet the needs of the market.
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“Because we are dealing with a lot of fresh produce here, we can’t leave until teatime and we have to be in Aberdeen the next morning at breakfast time to allow the products to get on to market. So in terms of types of ships there are not that many available
“Hildasay will give us more capacity compared to Hascosay. Demand for us to ship freight is going up and up, and at peak time we did not have enough capacity with Hascosay.
“Also Hascosay is now 39 years old and it has taken a lot of effort from the crew to keep that vessel operational. The new vessel is only 10 years old, so it will be much easier to keep a reliable service going.”
Meanwhile Sophie was delighted with her involvement today, which also gave her a day off from school.
She said she had chosen the name Hildasay because it fitted in with NorthLink’s other vessels, Hamnavoe, Hjaltland and Hrossey, which all began with an ‘H’.
“It means a lot to me to name the boat because you don’t very often get the chance to do that.
“Initially it was a bit nerve wracking, all the people and being up so high on the vessel. But then it was really exciting, amazing actually,” she said.
The Hildasay was expected to sail for Aberdeen later on Wednesday to get some last alterations done before commencing service by the middle of next week.
Her master Victor Saharens said he was convinced that she would perform well on the 200 mile route between Shetland and the Scottish mainland.
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