News / Six firms on ferry shortlist
SIX companies including NorthLink and P&O are in the bidding for the new contracts to run the lifeline ferry service between the northern isles and the Scottish mainland.
Four shipping lines are vying to run both the Lerwick-Kirkwall-Aberdeen route and the Pentland Firth crossing, while two companies are interested in just one of the two routes.
The contracts are due to run from July 2012 to 2018, and have been separated for the first time. This year the combined service received a £36 million Scottish government subsidy, up from £34.5 million the year before.
Former operator P&O have announced they are submitting a bid to return to the north of Scotland 10 years after they lost out to state-owned NorthLink, who are also in the running.
Serco, one of the UK’s biggest conglomerates with interests in a wide range of fields, including running Scatsta airport and various Royal Navy operations, is bidding for both routes.
The other company interested in both contracts is Shetland Line (1984) Ltd, part of the Streamline Group, who have been running a freight service between the Scottish mainland and the northern isles for several decades.
Meanwhile major Norwegian cargo carrier Sea-Cargo have expressed their interest in the North Sea route connecting Aberdeen to Kirkwall and Lerwick.
And private Pentland Firth operator Andrew banks has put in a bid for the rival Stromness to Scrabster service with his company Pentland ferries.
Transport minister Keith Brown said the government was “on target” to renew the contract next year, despite concerns raised by local MSPs Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur.
Mr Brown said: “A community consultation was carried out in the early stages of the process which has helped us to ensure the successful bidder will deliver what the users of the Northern Isles ferry services want and need out of their service.”
He said that all six companies had demonstrated they were able to run the service and a competitive dialogue has now been entered into, involving a short series of meetings between transport officials and bidders before they are invited to submit their final tenders.
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