McArthur challenges First Minister over MV Hamnavoe refit arrangements

Orkney’s MSP, Liam McArthur today questioned the Scottish Government’s commitment to lifeline ferry services, following its failure to provide a replacement vessel to cover the MV Hamnavoe during its dry dock period next month.

During an exchange in First Minister’s Questions, Mr McArthur highlighted that previous refit periods had seen temporary cover provided initially by ro-pax and more recently freight vessels on the Stromness-Scrabster route. This year, however, there will be no vessel at all on this route for the duration of MV Hamnavoe’s absence.

As well as challenging the government’s commitment to lifeline ferry services, Mr McArthur sought a guarantee from the First Minister that constituents in Orkney would not see a repeat of this situation in the future.  In response, Mr Yousaf accepted the importance of the route but stopped short of offering any reassurance about provision during future re-fit periods.

Commenting after the exchange, Orkney’s MSP said:

“Over recent years, arrangements for MV Hamnavoe’s refit period have got progressively worse to the point where we now have no vessel at all on the Stromness-Scrabster route during that fortnight. While mitigations will be put in place, this demonstrates a complete failure by the Scottish Government to respect the lifeline nature of these services.

“We know that services across the ferry network are stretched desperately thin as a result of years of mismanagement by this government. However, despite assurances from the First Minister that his government is addressing these problems, Mr Yousaf was unable to offer any guarantee that future years won’t see a similar abandonment of the Stromness-Scrabster route during refit.

“Combined with the news this week of a 9% hike in fares on Northlink routes, Mr Yousaf seems to be going out of his way to ensure that islanders and island businesses don’t have a happy new year.”