OIC unveil plans for £9.5m ferry terminal on Hatston site
(From The Orcadian dated November 30, 2000)

A rough draft of the layout for a new ro-ro terminal at Hatston. (Click image for an enlargement)

Councillors have agreed to plan for a brand new £9.5 million ro-ro terminal near Crowness on the edge of the Hatston Industrial Estate in Kirkwall.

It is hoped that the new terminal will be ready in time for the arrival of the new vessels to be used on the Orkney and Shetland routes by Northlink from 2002.

The decision was taken at a special meeting of the OIC’s transportation committee on Monday, when members were discussing the implications of the Northern Isles Ferry Contract switching from the current operator, P&O Scottish Ferries, to the preferred bidder, the Caledonian MacBrayne/Royal Bank of Scotland joint venture company, Northlink.

It was said that the replacement St Sunniva vessel which Northlink were proposing to operate on the Shetland/Orkney/Aberdeen service would have serious manoeuvring difficulties in berthing at the existing Stromness linkspan, and that an additional £1 million would need to be spent on altering the terminal to accommodate the larger ship.

Councillors decided that it would be better to channel the new Northlink freight operation between Orkney, Shetland and Aberdeen through a brand new ro-ro facility for Kirkwall near Crowness, although the daily Pentland Firth service would continue to be operated through Stromness.

The meeting agreed that all commercial traffic such as Streamline’s cargo service and the Kirkwall-Invergordon service would move out to the new terminal. Cruise liners would also be able to berth alongside the new facility.

But it was decided that Orkney Ferries services to and from the North Isles would continue to operate from the existing Kirkwall Pier, as well as fishing vessels and pleasure craft.

Council officials are to pursue the question of external funding for the new ro-ro terminal project with various bodies such as the Scottish Executive and the Highlands and Islands Special Programme, which now controls the budget for European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and European Social Fund (ESF), before finding out how much of the project cost will fall on the OIC.

The idea of proceeding with the Crowness terminal project will have to be ratified by the full council who meet on December 12.

Recommending that fellow members back the idea, transportation committee chairman, Councillor Stephen Hagan, said: “We’ve moved into the 21st century, and I believe that we should seize this opportunity to bring our infrastructure, such as ports and ferry services, right up to date.

“It is a case of developing something which we’ve had plans for, for some time, but bringing it forward on a fast-track because of Northlink’s willingness to switch the Aberdeen/Shetland freight service through Kirkwall.

“We’ve also asked the chief executive to write to Northlink requesting that their company headquarters should be in Stromness, nearer the centre of their operations in the Northern Isles.”