Marine / SIC making efforts to attract cruise business to its ports
SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) is making efforts to attract cruise ships to ports such as Scalloway – though a warning was sounded that communities should not be “overwhelmed” with activity.
The hope is that encouraging more “adventure” style cruise ships – smaller ones than the large liners which come to Lerwick – may boost the council’s harbour coffers.
Scalloway Harbour is now taking in less income after a salmon company moved a processing facility at Blacksness Pier to Lerwick, meaning the SIC has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds of landing fees a year.
Fish landings are also down. It is understood that the sinking of the fishing boat Opportune in March and a breakdown of Angelina will have affected landings in Scalloway, while the quota and the weather have not helped either.
On a wider level the SIC’s harbour activity is also seeing less income from oil traffic in Sullom Voe as fewer tankers stop by.
Lerwick Port Authority gets the lion’s share of Shetland’s cruise activity, but smaller vessels have previously visited Scalloway on occasion, as well as some other ports like Baltasound in Unst.
One hope for the council could be that targeting more traffic can offset reducing harbour income.
At a meeting of the SIC’s harbour board on Tuesday, Shetland South councillor Robbie McGregor asked whether there has been progress in attracting more small cruises to Scalloway.
Harbourmaster Greg Maitland replied: “Yes, I can say that we have been making efforts to attract that business.
“We need to understand the business and we’ve been having meetings with Lerwick and various council departments.”
The next step appears to be how to advertise the ports.
Maitland said the council is rejoining Cruise Scotland, and will get a portfolio of photographs together to advertise its ports.
But the harbourmaster said the SIC needs to understand the capacity of the small ports.
“These are multi-use ports and if we fill them with cruise boats through the summer months we would potentially be losing long business just by encouraging one sector,” Maitland said.
This note of caution was echoed by harbour board chair Robert Thomson, with the North Isles councillor saying some of the smaller ports should not be overwhelmed with cruise activity.
He highlighted Unst as an example, and added that the proposed launches from SaxaVord Spaceport could potentially attract more visits.
Shetland Central councillor Davie Sandison also said he was encouraged that the SIC was exploring how it could attract more cruise ship visits into smaller ports.
“I certainly think there’s scope in Scalloway and around the westside for more of that,” he added.
But development committee Dennis Leask warned that cruise activity is much more than just berthing a ship, with work to be done once folk are ashore.
“We need to be aware it’s not just a case of tying the boat up – there’s a lot more to it,” he said.
Cruise activity is likely to be one of many factors being considered as the SIC continues to explore redeveloping Scalloway Harbour.
A future replacement will be needed for the West Pier there, which could also be extended, while the SIC acknowledges that the current layout of the harbour area could be improved.
But there was disappointment across the chamber at Tuesday’s meeting when port infrastructure manager Andrew Inkster conceded that an outline business case for the project had been delayed.
He said it was unlikely to be presented to councillors in March, and is now expected to be aired in May instead.
Inkster described it as a “victim of circumstances” as plenty of feedback from a public consultation meant more time has been needed to work on the business case.
When it comes to fish landings, Lerwick North and Bressay councillor Stephen Leask asked whether discounted landing charges could be a way to incentivise more activity at SIC ports.
While finance manager Paul Fraser said it was a potential avenue, he warned that it could be a “race to the bottom” and highlighted possible legal issues around it being commercial activity.
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