wastmania

Apparently they are the best that was available on the market at the time that Northlink were looking to hire them. There are not many off the shelf freight boats that can fit the criteria, we have a special bit of water between us and aberdeen along with the size and draught that can fit aberdeen harbour. The passenger boats are built for the route but the cargo ships are chartered in and are underpowered. The freight boats need to go out in a F8>F9 but maybe they need to be purpose built to fit our route. Perhaps the Scottish Government should take this into account as well as having purpose built passenger boats built for the route. This needs to be discussed and clarified before the new contract is comes up for renewal so we can sort this matter out. The passenger boat can stay in port for the comfort of the passengers but we need to get our exports down the road to Aberdeen in worse weather than ties up the passenger ferry.

It's January and the weather for Shetland is very bad this year with these continuous gales. Anyone travelling to and from the isles must consider that the plane in winter and the boat in summer is the best option whenever possible BUT Shetland is suffering really badly from the lack of Freight boats that can do the trip. The freight boats are once again cancelled before the passenger ferry - the freight boat should be able to go when the passenger boat is tied up not the other way round!! Northlink can not control the weather nor the boats they are expected to operate with but the Scottish Government can do something about it, when designing the next boats for the contract let's get something that is fit for the trip between here and Aberdeen with an engine powerful enough to go head on into the wind not what we are presently lumbered with. Trade in Shetland is suffering and that will affect everyone in the isles eventually.

Much sympathy extended to all you moderators. Keep up the spirits - Patience is a virtue but not to be found anywhere near the person on the wrong end of the DNS stick!! (appreciated your email with the redirect instructions though, thanks)

you can buy this at DITT, they have it in stock

It was good for Shetland, I enjoyed it, well done everybody that were in any way involved. Thank you the BBC for free prime time coverage of Shetland which is going to be a positive benefit in many, many ways.

breeksy PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2012 7:25 pm Post subject: Who are the other five? Twenty Olympic torchbearers are taking the torch through the streets of Lerwick. Fifteen are locals. Any thoughts/guesses/inside knowledge? well on the bbc tv news yesterday they were covering the torch carrying carry-on through Wales and they mentioned that five torch bearers were russian businessmen as part of the olympic ideal of spreading the ceremony globally - that could be read as "raising money" I suppose or "selling off the family jewels" ... anyone else see that news arcticle?? would think Muppet is on the money with the olympic sponsors idea.

just shows you that things we took for granted (like folk always letting you by in passing places and us tooting to say thanks) are a thing of the past. Not positive progress in my opinion. We were all well told to leave well alone brukk/valuable widd above the high water line. Gain alang da banks is a pleasant pastime maybe not so crucial as it was in the past though. No toories would maybe understand this but they can have the gatherins if they want I'm sure we are not desperate enough to bother the lawmen/tourist board aboot it.

I often have to go away at short notice and am not always sure of the date I will be returning north, therefore the best option for me is the boat rather than the plane. If Serco change the fare structure to more like booking the plane then that's a big blow. Unless of course the top price remains the same as we have now and folk are encouraged to book early and get a good discount! How likely is that though? Time will tell - we have to give them a chance.

when i said about the EU i meant in terms of shetland, no that faroe is part of the eu. but even from shetlands point of view i think its unfair to stop people from being able to come to shetland and have a job. we need more people in shetland, and the more we have the better our facilities (like links to the mainalnd) will be

btw - I agree with mags... our ancestors had to travel to get work and we hope they were well received and treated well wheerver they went .. and we should do the same to folk coming into shetland...

well faroe is essentially a country in its own right, at least more so than shetland. But I do think that there are restrictions in Faroe as there are no shetland people allowed to work on the Norrona for example. I know someone who tried to get a job there and was immediately turned down becaue he did not have a Faroes/Danish passport. so if you consider our laws as a country (ie uk) then people who apply for visas will only get one if the job they are applying for cant be filled by a local person. so we cant stop people fom the mainland getting jobs...