News / Minister finds new cash for ferries
SCOTTISH transport minister Keith Brown said the government had found new money to help reduce the period Shetland is without a second ferry this winter.
Speaking during a visit to the islands on Thursday, Mr Brown assured islanders that the government was not discriminating against them in favour of the western isles.
Shetland’s seafood industry has been up in arms since it was announced that the daily service to Aberdeen will be halved for nine weeks as operators NorthLink put their three 10 year old ferries through their five yearly extended refit.
One of Shetland’s two ferries was to stand in for the Hamnavoe on the Pentland Firth route between Stromness and Scrabster.
However on Thursday Mr Brown said that the government was now seeking a partnership deal with Shetland Islands Council and NorthLink to come up with £250,000 to lease the CalMac ferry Hebridean Isles for the Pentland Firth route for three weeks.
He said the government would pay the lion’s share of the cost. The SIC will discuss whether to make a contribution on 12 January, but councillors will be concerned about setting a precedent by agreeing to the deal, which would cut the period of disruption in Shetland to six weeks.
The islands’ seafood industry is worth £300 million a year and depends on the ferry route to export its product on a daily basis.
Shetland Aquaculture general manager David Sandison said the drydock period placed extra pressure on the industry.
“I would stress very forcefully that this is the equivalent of the M8 for us in terms of our access to market, it is like having further restrictions on a couple of lanes on the motorway for our export traffic,” he said.
Mr Brown said that with the northern isles ferry contract out to tender, he would do his utmost to prevent a similar problem arising again.
He added that as a further response to local concerns, some of the freight fare increase had been deferred until April. Fares rose by 4.5 per cent on 1 January and the extra two per cent increase has been postponed until 1 April.
The minister said: “Whether it is the £38 million subsidy, the highest ever level, whether it is our willingness to make sure we don’t to repeat the mistakes of the past in terms of the long dry docking period, or whether it is deferring the increases in fares which are related to the very high fuel cost, I think we can demonstrate not only do we not discriminate but we are listening to what people have to say in Shetland, and responding to their concerns.”
Councillor Allan Wishart, chairman of Shetland’s transport partnership ZetTrans, said he had been reassured by the minister’s response.
He said: “I have been able to talk directly to the minister, and have been able to make some very valid points about the importance of transport, for instance that Shetland now exports three times the amount of good that it imports, that the ferry service is like the motorway to us, and that many of the products that we exports are time critical, so they must be on the market at a certain time. And that is so vital for the economic wellbeing of Shetland.”
Mr Brown’s visit followed an invitation by SIC leader Josie Simpson, who raised concerns about the impact of the dry dock schedule, high ferry fares, cutbacks to the air discount scheme, the need for tunnels and the idea of abolishing inter island ferry fares.
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