News / Call for full Yell ferry service on Mondays
There are currently eight fewer sailings to allow for maintenance and training.
A CALL has been made for a full service to be reinstated on the Yell Sound ferry route on Mondays instead of it reducing to a single vessel for a period of time for maintenance.
At the moment there are eight fewer sailings on Mondays compared to other weekdays so staff can undergo any required remedial work on the ferries or undertake training.
There have been calls from the community, however, for the timetable to change a full two-vessel service Monday to Friday, with the maintenance time shifted to Saturdays.
Monday is known to be the busiest day for exporting fish landed in Yell and the issue has been raised at Yell’s Community Council in recent months.
Chairman of Shetland Islands Council’s (SIC) transport committee Ryan Thomson said the idea is being investigated alongside an ongoing business case which is being prepared on the local authority’s ferry service.
“Local businesses have made it known to the SIC that a lack of sailings on a Monday when Yell Sound reduces through the day to a single vessel is negatively affecting their businesses,” he said.
“This is due to essential maintenance work on the Yell Sound ferries. There is a piece of work ongoing investigating what can be done to relieve the stress on local businesses, whilst making sure we have a timetable fit for purpose that works for both the crews, the council and the businesses themselves.
“This is being looked at in conjunction with the ferries revenue outline business case which is being worked on and set to be concluded in March 2019.”
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