#MyFerry, Our Ferry, Your Ferry The importance of the inter-island ferry service to life in Shetland cannot be overestimated. The ferry service is the social and economic backbone of our islands. The ferries take commuters to work and essentials to community shops. The ferries take patients to hospital and children to school. They are a lifeline in the truest sense of the word. What’s more, the ferry service is the key to unlocking economic success not just for Shetland, but for all of Scotland. The ferries take the fish from Scotland’s biggest export - farmed salmon - to their destination. The ferries will take the parts and the people to Unst to build the UK’s first vertical satellite launch site. They take tourists to Fair Isle to see its world-renowned 27 species of bird. And they’ll take commuters to the Shetland Energy Hub as we transition to hydrogen production. #MyFerry is about lifting the lid on a lifeline. And #MyFerry is about showcasing the benefits of investment. Shetland’s inter-island ferries need more funding, so that we can give our own people a lifeline and invest for the benefit of all Scotland. We ask for certainty. We ask for our lifeline. And we ask for the chance to give more back than we receive. 2 ferries and Funding shortfall infrastructure need to of over £5.5m be replaced urgently at every year estimated cost of £37m Average 12 12 ferries Around age of completing 750,000 Serving 27 ferries is around 70,000 passengers 9 27 years crossings every year remote 70,000 every year old islands Routemap Unst Gutcher Belmont Hamars Ness B IG A S Fetlar G EIR NOLDA Yell A & G Ulsta Toft Vidlin Skerries Papa Stour Laxo Whalsay Symbister West Burrafirth D I A R Mainland G N E G E C A G W N LIE DA ADVA Walls N & Lerwick Foula Bressay F I A L L G A IN Grutness , H L LEIRNA ENDRA & G O V I O D D ER SHEPH Fair Isle FIVLA #MyFerry - a local lifeline Jennifer Nisbet, Headteacher, lives in Yell I was born and bred in Yell. After I graduated, I briefly commuted to a mainland school, but had to stop as it just wasn’t practical at that time. I’ve been commuting every day to the mainland since I took up this post four years ago - the timetable is better now and there’s bigger ferries. Promoted posts are few and far between in schools in Yell, and the ferries have allowed me to advance my career by looking to the mainland. There are three head teachers who come out of Yell every day, as well as several other school staff, and more who travel the other way. I have six grandchildren living on the mainland, so on top of the twenty return trips I do a month for work, I use the ferries to go to see them, to attend appointments or head into town for shopping. I’m lucky in that my school is just five minutes from the ferry - but it’s expensive if you add in fuel costs, especially if you’re going further. It costs me around £180 a month to commute. If you’re on a lower income, that would make living on Yell and working on the mainland quite tricky, so anything that brings that cost down would be very welcome, and help keep the isle viable. #MyFerry - “There are three head teachers who come out of Yell every day.” #MyFerry - a local lifeline Karis Leask, S6 at Anderson High School, lives in Whalsay I travel out from Whalsay every week to stay in the hostel. Eleven of us leave on the seven o’clock ferry on Sundays, get to the hostel around eight, and come back out again on Friday afternoon. There’s around 40 pupils from the isles who do the same. The timing is good as it gives us most of Sunday at home, but it’s a bit draining coming back and fore, especially in winter. When you were peerie, it was a bit of a novelty, but that does wear off and I do remember some bad trips. You just have to get used to it, like it or not. I’m involved in a lot of sports, and used to come out three or four times a week for football, netball, hockey and swimming. A lot of folk hate the ferries as it can be rough, and we do see a lot of visiting sports teams who just won’t come up on a bad day - it’s not really fair, as we always did it to play on the mainland! I’m hoping to be a PE teacher and I’d like to live in Whalsay after Uni. Both my parents commute to Lerwick for their work, and I imagine I’d do the same, as if I have a family I’d want to live here. The ferries are important for that, but more ferries at the weekend and more space for vehicles would make a big difference. #MyFerry - “Eleven of us leave on the seven o’clock ferry on Sundays.” #MyFerry - a local lifeline Clare Stiles, Child and Family Health manager, lives in Yell Yell has been our home for 26 years. I spent the first 14 as the district nurse here, and before my husband retired, he worked on the mainland and in Unst. The ferries allowed us to do that, and nowadays they give me the chance to commute to Lerwick. Having the ferry service has meant we could develop our careers and stay in Yell, which we love. I catch the ferry just after 7am, and while I can’t always be sure when I’ll finish, there’s enough flexibility in the timetable at the end of the day to get me home. That helps keep the island populated - if you have a young family, and you can’t commute to work you’re likely to move away, and no island community can survive if that happens too much. When I was a district nurse, the ferries were absolutely vital in getting patients into the hospital. Nowadays, I manage a team which includes health visitors and children’s nurses who all have to make critical home visits right across the isles, and without the ferries, that just wouldn’t be possible. It’s absolutely a lifeline service. #MyFerry - “My team makes critical home visits right across the isles, and without the ferries, that just wouldn’t be possible.” #MyFerry - a local lifeline Colin Jamieson, Vet, lives on the Mainland I’m originally from Unst, but have worked as a vet on the mainland for nearly 20 years now. I travel up every week, with surgeries at local halls and other appointments on each of the isles, so I’m travelling across two sounds on those days. I cover everything from livestock to family pets, and the coastguard will arrange for special trips across if there are emergencies. The company I work for has been doing it for a long time, and other vets do it too - it’s an important service for crofters, and, especially for folk in Unst who’d otherwise have problems getting livestock down, it makes a big difference and is a real benefit for animal welfare. I’ve seen the ferries change over the decades, from 1973 when the ro-ro service came in, and it’s really opened up things for the isles. Folk are really reliant on them for everything - it’s a lifeline, what more can you say? #MyFerry - “It’s a lifeline, what more can you say?” #MyFerry - a local lifeline Fiona Mitchell, Fair Isle Shop and Post Office, lives in Fair isle I lived in Fair Isle when I was a child, left Shetland to train as a nurse, and moved back to the isle in 1993 with my husband and we’ve run the shop since then. We get all our supplies in on the ferry, we can’t just go and load up at the wholesalers. Our orders come in once a week in the winter, and twice in the summer - that’s really important, as at certain times of the year our population can effectively double, and we’re supplying local accommodation providers. Of course, what with the loss of the Bird Observatory and a lack of non-essential visitors, this year is very different. The weather can seriously affect the service; the longest I remember us going without a ferry was around six weeks. We had to have people and provisions helicoptered in and out. Folk here are resilient, though - they’ve got their own lamb off the hill, their own freezers, and yards. We’re used to being self-reliant. The greatest value of the ferry to the community is that it’s based here - it’s income for the crew, which boosts the local economy, and it gives us greater flexibility and control. An upgraded vessel is much-needed and would make an enormous difference. If we get more capacity, and keep our crew in Fair Isle, it gives us income and helps preserve, and hopefully increase our population - and that’s what gives communities confidence. #MyFerry - “We can’t just go and load up at the wholesalers.” #MyFerry - a national investment Frank Strang, Shetland Space Centre, lives in Unst We’re developing the Shetland Space Centre in Unst, which looks like being the first satellite launch site in the UK.