Shouldn't the convener resign?

[Infiltrator]

Personally think the whole Smyril line investment stinks, the original investments were misguided and now the current convener is found guilty of breaching the code by the watchdog which protects the ethical standards of public life in Scotland.

Maybe the watchdog should take a good hard look at some of the other abysmal investments and surrounding ethical practices - messrs Goodlad for instance.

 

When last reviewed, the return from £125 million of investments from the charitable trust stood at summit like less than £10 million, if the charitable trust was a PLC it would have folded long ago.

 

An unethical convener - doesn't seem right to me.

[david]

I still think the Smyril investment was well worth it... and by the looks of things we are already seeing the result of the Norrona's reduced/no visits.

 

http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_07_2007/Slack%20season%20worries%20holiday%20firms.htm

 

If the report about the Norrona bringing £4 million a year to the economy was correct then this is a MASSIVE loss.

[Infiltrator]

Would you invest (gamble almost) your own money in a business already in trouble with no guarantee that you'll get what you really want from the deal - long term commitment for Scandanavian link.

 

I agree, when it was running the local tourist industry did benefit greatly, but the service from the outset was on a very thin tightrope because of the poor state of Smyril itself. As investments go, very very risky - and all done in a very secret manner.

 

Good luck to Wishart and co with their proposed venture, with a businessman leading the project it'll at least have a fighting chance.

[islandhopper]

Well, infiltrator, there are more than 1 question in your post ...

 

Firstly, the investment into Smyril Line and the new Norröna was not wrong.

 

Secondly, the failure was - strictly from the view of a ferry company - to add the Lerwick-Bergen run to the Faeroe/Iceland runs.

 

Thirdly, the Smyril boats of the 1980 were very profitable - That's why they decided to built the new boat.

 

Fourthly ... , when the Smyril boats were profitable, there were additional links between Orkney and Shetland (Orcadia and other boats) which were linked to the Stromness-Scrabster route and thus to trains and busses to Scotland mainland destinations offering alternatives for tourists (and locals).

 

Fifthly, it was the possibility to choose from alternative combinations which then brought tourists (especially from the continent) to Shetland.

 

Sixthly, these alternatives were given up for unknown reasons with the result that only bloody idiots like me opted for the way "achter rom" when travelling to / from Scotland.

 

Seventhly, Smyril's strategy of "no adverts" on the continent (that's to say in Germany, Austria and Switzerland) over the last 4 years reduced this number significantly.

 

I really do hope, that the recently discussed link to Norway will bring back some lost tourists although from the continental view it's too far in the north and thus not compatative with the Ijmuiden or Zebrugge links to England/Scotland. The chance of this link might be the discussed port of Rossyth if the service is linked with the SuperFast Zeebrugge-Rosyth-Link with some kind of smaller (significantly smaller) boats on a Bergen-Lerwick or Lerwick-Scrabster run.

 

Nevertheless, there is one big SORRY as far as the continent is concerned ...

You may win some Norwegian or Swedish tourists but none from the continent, if former rules will apply: I could have bought an Orkneyjar or Scottlandet billjetter in 2003 for the combined Bergen-Lerwick-Kirkwall/Aberdeen route saving some £180 less than the regula tariff but as a German (Austrian, Dutch, Swiss &c) I was not entitled and all attempts to book via internet were refused.

 

The problem is not the boat or the investment into a boat, the problem is burried in the routes and who they are marketed ... The new route will be profitable and I'm sure it would have been profitable for the last 4 to 5 years if Shetland would have been dropped off. Sorry again for the strictly view of an "investor" - which I'm not ... .

 

A different prob may be the opening of the EU to the east ... the low budget airlines responded very well ... the ferry companies did not. It is somehow idiotic but I can go to Shetland via Warzaw or a Baltic airport, sometime connecting to Stansted or Prestwick or via Sweden for less than with any ferry connecting Britain to the continent ... despite of Channel links ...

[tirvaluk]

You can already see the difference in the amount of foreign cars around Shetland. The Norrona took in hundereds of visitors every summer, bringing millions of pounds to the local economy, it will be greatly missed.