Northlink Ferries

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NorthLink Ferries operates daily ferry services between mainland Scotland and the northern archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland.

NorthLink Ferries operates two routes:

• Scrabster to Stromness, Orkney (90 minutes)
• Aberdeen to Lerwick, Shetland (12 hours 30 minutes northbound; 12 hours southbound), with some services also calling at Kirkwall, Orkney, in which case the journey time is increased by 2 hours)

Currently the NorthLink fleet includes:

• MV Hamnavoe, on the Scrabster route, 112m long
• MV Hjaltland and MV Hrossey, sister ships, on the Aberdeen route, 125m long
• MV Hascosay, used for freight and livestock to Orkney and Shetland, sailing from Aberdeen
  

  

  NorthLink Ferries - MV Hamnavoe docked at Scrabster Harbour

Ferries on the Aberdeen route have onboard cinemas and occasional live entertainment

[edit] History

The subsidised Northern Isles services which were run by P&O Scottish Ferries were put out to tender in 1999, and a joint venture between Caledonian MacBrayne and the Royal Bank of Scotland named Northlink Orkney and Shetland Ferries won the service from 2002. Its ambitious plans ran into difficulties, and the service was re-tendered while Northlink ran under interim arrangements. By the closing date bids were received from V-Ships UK Ltd, and from Caledonian MacBrayne which put in the lower bid and so won the tender. Caledonian MacBrayne formed a company named NorthLink Ferries Limited which began operating the Northern Isles ferry service on 6 July 2006.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Alan Rehfisch (2007). Ferry Services in Scotland (pdf). SPICe Briefing. Scottish Parliament Information Centre. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.

[edit] External links

• NorthLink Ferries - Official Website

v • d • e Current Ferry Operators of Scotland Caledonian MacBrayne · Northlink Ferries · Orkney Ferries · P&O · Pentland Ferries · Smyril Line · Stena Line · Superfast Ferries · Western Ferries See Also: Transport Scotland