The Orcadian Features

P&O were a godsend to the islands says boss who introduced first ro-ro St Ola
(From The Orcadian dated October 3, 2002)

The former managing director of P&O Scottish Ferries, Eric Turner, who headed the company from 1977 until he retired in 1992.

Wednesday, January 29, 1975, is a day that will live in the memories of many people in Orkney – especially those working for the North of Scotland Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company.

The day marked the maiden voyage of the first roll-on roll-off ferry to serve the county, changing the lives of everyone involved.

No longer would it take two hours to unload the ferry using cranes, slings and hooks, and then another two hours to load up again before sailing away. No longer would sailings be restricted to one round trip a day.

On board the new St Ola, the third vessel to bear the name, was Eric Turner, operations manager for the company and the man who would soon take over from Herbert Scott as general manager.

For him, and all the others who worked within the company, the historic occasion was the greatest milestone in their careers with P&O, who had taken over the shipping company in 1971.

The introduction of ro-ro ferries was a dramatic improvement in technology, akin, says Mr Turner, to the leap to the moon. During the soaring oil prices of the mid-1970s, P&O had to implement cutbacks, but some were countered by improved technology.

P&O chairman Lord Inchcape cited Orkney and Shetland as examples at the time. Six ships had carried 89,000 passengers and 101,000 tons of freight in 1974, but in 1979, four ships carried more than 130,000 passengers and 180,000 tons of freight.

“The first sailing of the ro-ro St Ola was a day never to forget,” recalled Mr Turner. “Herbert Scott and his wife Phoebe, born and brought up in Stromness, flew up in order to meet the ship. It was an absolutely grand day to enter into the port. You would remember that to the end of your days. The number of dockers, number of people standing there on the quay.

“I was on the bridge. We were looking down from this great height down into the gathered people. All the kids were off school.

“In those days you did not have camcorders, but it would have been great to have one to record their faces. I remember that as if it was only yesterday.”

Aberdeen born and bred, Eric Turner joined the North of Scotland Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company in 1956 as an accounts clerk and later rose to become managing director of the company which was to become P&O Scottish Ferries.

He explained: “In 1948 I was working for a ship brokers office in London, in the shipping business and got married in 1951 and my wife (also from Aberdeen) thought she would rather be living in Aberdeen than London. So, I joined the North of Scotland Orkney and Shetland Shipping Company on September 3, 1956.”

In February, 1961 Coast Lines Ltd of Liverpool took over before P&O became the parent company in 1971.

P&O’s presence in the isles was in a way a coming home. The company was co-founded by Shetland man Arthur Anderson in 1837 and he, no doubt, would have been proud of the company’s renewed links with the isles.

“I think it was a good thing for Orkney and Shetland that the P&O flag should come into the waters, because there was an awful lot we could not do as a small company,” said Mr Turner. “The islands certainly benefited from P&O.”

Always keen to get back onto the operational side, Mr Turner was made operations manager in 1973, which put him in the “happy position” of introducing the first ro-ro St Ola.

His promotion to managing director in 1977 coincided with the introduction of the new St Clair – the first ro-ro ferry to serve Shetland. He was responsible for purchasing all four vessels currently serving the isles.

He remembers clearly the amazement on the faces of the P&O pensioners brought down to the Aberdeen pier to watch the new St Clair in action.

He said the old ship used to spend two days in Aberdeen, with winches unloading and loading cargo before heading back to Shetland.

Ro-ro technology, however, wasn’t cheap.

“If it had not been for the introduction of perhaps Coast Lines, but certainly P&O, there would have been no finance for ro-ro,” he said. “So, P&O were a godsend to the islands. No question of that.”

Looking back on those momentous days, the 74-year-old, who was awarded the OBE in 1988 for services to the industry, and who retired in 1992, says he has no regrets.

“You could not have any regrets, because you were actively involved and had a team around you. You could not do anything without the team. Whether they were sailing the ships, pushing the barrows, driving a forklift, or pushing a pen, made no difference. Each was an essential cog in the wheel, all working for the communities.”