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Jobs saved at NorthLink office
Jobs under threat at NorthLink's Lerwick office have been saved after incoming operator Caledonian MacBrayne dropped their initial plans to transfer Lerwick staff to Kirkwall.
The news comes as CalMac chairman Harold Mills and the company's managing director Lawrie Sinclair visited Shetland yesterday (Tuesday).
In what may well be their last visit before the official handover of the northern isles lifeline ferry service to CalMac - now expected to take place in July - the management team are in the isles to update their customers on progress made.
In March, the Scottish Executive announced that state owned ferry operator CalMac was the preferred bidder for the six year contract to run the northern isles ferry service as from summer this year.
As part of that transfer process it emerged last month that up to eight jobs at NorthLink's Lerwick office may be scrapped and transferred to the company headquarters in Kirkwall.
However, these plans have now been dropped, according to Mr Mills, who added that the company would instead update computer links between the two offices.
He said: "We had a proposal that we would move the finance function from Lerwick to Kirkwall, so that it would be closer to the other part of the organisation to get greater efficiency.
"We have looked at that again and have now come back to the staff and have said that that proposal is not on the table anymore."
"The plan that we had has been shelved completely. We are now looking at linking up electronically the Lerwick, Kirkwall and Gourock offices, but the staff who are doing the work in Lerwick will continue to be based here."
Mr Mills described the negotiations with the Scottish Executive on the finer details of the transfer as long and protracted, as CalMac had initially expected to take over the ferry run in April this year.
As the executive announced their preferred bidder only in March, it became clear that the transfer could not take place before June at the earliest. This has now slipped to July.
However, lessons had been learned from the problems arising from the first NorthLink contract, Mr Mills said.
The agreement was signed in 2000 and came to an abrupt end in 2004 when the executive re-tendered the lifeline service in the light of more than £70 million of additional subsidy that were being paid to NorthLink to keep the service afloat.
He said: "There are issues of risk that are being allocated to one side or the other, and that takes time. It is based on the experience we have been through. There were a number of events that no one foresaw such as Pentland Ferries, the delay in the harbours or the high increase in the harbour charges.
"This time we want to get it right and that takes a lot of discussion. The success on both sides depend on that."
Scottish transport minister Tavish Scott confirmed that his legal team continues to work on the contract documents and said that it was unlikely that they would be signed this month.
Mr Sinclair added that CalMac was unable to resolve the problem of limited cabin space on board the two ferries Hjaltland and Hrossey this summer, due to the delays in the transfer process.
The company now plans to carry out a review of cabin usage before pressing ahead with increasing the number of cabins on board the ferries.
"The proposal to increase cabins is still on our agenda but we would like to get more information about the usage of cabins," he said.
He couldn't confirm as to whether more cabins would be available on the ferries for the start of next year's summer season.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the company plans to have two prototypes of a newly designed livestock transport container available for inspection in Shetland by October this year.
If fully endorsed by the farming and crofting communities in Orkney and Shetland, the new containers could become available in early 2007. Meantime, however, this year's livestock transport season will get underway with the same arrangements in place as in previous years.
Mr Mills assured islanders that once the official handover to CalMac has been carried out, passengers will be unable to notice a difference in the service.
He said: "The handover will be seamless. The fact that we are going to go forward with the same brand and the same crew will ensure that.
"We want the standard of the present NorthLink maintained and, if possible, improved upon."
The new company to run the lifeline service will be known as NorthLink Ferries Ltd, as opposed to NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd, and will be 100 per cent subsidiary of the CalMac Group.
The news comes as CalMac chairman Harold Mills and the company's managing director Lawrie Sinclair visited Shetland yesterday (Tuesday).
In what may well be their last visit before the official handover of the northern isles lifeline ferry service to CalMac - now expected to take place in July - the management team are in the isles to update their customers on progress made.
In March, the Scottish Executive announced that state owned ferry operator CalMac was the preferred bidder for the six year contract to run the northern isles ferry service as from summer this year.
As part of that transfer process it emerged last month that up to eight jobs at NorthLink's Lerwick office may be scrapped and transferred to the company headquarters in Kirkwall.
However, these plans have now been dropped, according to Mr Mills, who added that the company would instead update computer links between the two offices.
He said: "We had a proposal that we would move the finance function from Lerwick to Kirkwall, so that it would be closer to the other part of the organisation to get greater efficiency.
"We have looked at that again and have now come back to the staff and have said that that proposal is not on the table anymore."
"The plan that we had has been shelved completely. We are now looking at linking up electronically the Lerwick, Kirkwall and Gourock offices, but the staff who are doing the work in Lerwick will continue to be based here."
Mr Mills described the negotiations with the Scottish Executive on the finer details of the transfer as long and protracted, as CalMac had initially expected to take over the ferry run in April this year.
As the executive announced their preferred bidder only in March, it became clear that the transfer could not take place before June at the earliest. This has now slipped to July.
However, lessons had been learned from the problems arising from the first NorthLink contract, Mr Mills said.
The agreement was signed in 2000 and came to an abrupt end in 2004 when the executive re-tendered the lifeline service in the light of more than £70 million of additional subsidy that were being paid to NorthLink to keep the service afloat.
He said: "There are issues of risk that are being allocated to one side or the other, and that takes time. It is based on the experience we have been through. There were a number of events that no one foresaw such as Pentland Ferries, the delay in the harbours or the high increase in the harbour charges.
"This time we want to get it right and that takes a lot of discussion. The success on both sides depend on that."
Scottish transport minister Tavish Scott confirmed that his legal team continues to work on the contract documents and said that it was unlikely that they would be signed this month.
Mr Sinclair added that CalMac was unable to resolve the problem of limited cabin space on board the two ferries Hjaltland and Hrossey this summer, due to the delays in the transfer process.
The company now plans to carry out a review of cabin usage before pressing ahead with increasing the number of cabins on board the ferries.
"The proposal to increase cabins is still on our agenda but we would like to get more information about the usage of cabins," he said.
He couldn't confirm as to whether more cabins would be available on the ferries for the start of next year's summer season.
Meanwhile, it emerged that the company plans to have two prototypes of a newly designed livestock transport container available for inspection in Shetland by October this year.
If fully endorsed by the farming and crofting communities in Orkney and Shetland, the new containers could become available in early 2007. Meantime, however, this year's livestock transport season will get underway with the same arrangements in place as in previous years.
Mr Mills assured islanders that once the official handover to CalMac has been carried out, passengers will be unable to notice a difference in the service.
He said: "The handover will be seamless. The fact that we are going to go forward with the same brand and the same crew will ensure that.
"We want the standard of the present NorthLink maintained and, if possible, improved upon."
The new company to run the lifeline service will be known as NorthLink Ferries Ltd, as opposed to NorthLink Orkney and Shetland Ferries Ltd, and will be 100 per cent subsidiary of the CalMac Group.
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