founded 2002 northlink orkney and shetland ferries 2006 northlink ferries 2012 serco northlink ferries headquarters stromness orkney scotland . offices in aberdeen & lerwick area served pentland firth orkney and shetland key people stuart garrett managing director services ferries parent serco website http www.northlinkferries.co.uk hrossey leaving kirkwall northlink ferries also referred to as serco northlink ferries 1 is an operator of passenger and vehicle ferries as well as ferry services between mainland scotland and the northern isles of orkney and shetland . since july 2012 it has been operated by international services company serco . contents 1 history 1.1 northlink orkney and shetland ferries 1.2 northlink ferries ltd 1.3 serco northlink ferries 2 services 3 fleet 4 references 4.1 notes 4.2 bibliography 5 external links history edit northlink ferries logo used from 2002 2013 northlink orkney and shetland ferries edit the subsidised northern isles ferry services previously run by p & o scottish ferries were put out to tender in 1999 . a joint venture between caledonian macbrayne and rbs group named northlink orkney and shetland ferries won the contract and began operation in october 2002 . a variety of factors including competition from rival operator pentland ferries the norse island ferries group created by local hauliers concerned about northlink s proposed freight pricing and higher than expected operation costs 2 contributed to financial difficulties within the company . in response the scottish executive transport group now transport scotland made additional subsidy payments of 0.6 million and agreed to restructure subsidy payment timing . 2 in mid 2003 the company indicated that it would be unlikely to complete its contract due to the financial difficulties . northlink defaulted on its lease payments for the vessels in july and august 2003 2 and in april 2004 the scottish executive announced that the service would be re tendered due to northlink s inability to fulfil the terms of the contract . the company continued to operate under interim arrangements until april 2006 while a new contract was secured . northlink ferries ltd edit on 19 july 2005 the scottish executive announced that three companies v ships irish continental ferries and caledonian macbrayne had bid to provide ferry services to the northern isles . irish continental however withdrew its bid in october 2005 leaving two potential operators on the closing date of 1 december 2005 . both of the remaining bids complied with the contract requirements but caledonian macbrayne s lower bid meant it was awarded the contract . caledonian macbrayne formed a company named northlink ferries ltd which adopted the branding and vessels of its predecessor and began operating the northern isles ferry services on 6 july 2006 . 3 serco northlink ferries edit the northern isles ferry service was re tendered in 2011 12 as northlink ferries ltd s contract came to an end . initially the contract s two services aberdeen lerwick and scrabster stromness were to be de bundled . eligible bids for the services were received from pentland ferries which expressed interest in the scrabster stromness service only sea cargo a s which expressed interest in the aberdeen lerwick service only p & o ferries shetland line 1984 ltd part of local haulage and freight company streamline shipping group serco and the incumbent northlink ferries ltd. 4 the scottish government subsequently re bundled the routes when insufficient interest was shown in the separate routes . citation needed on 4 may 2012 transport scotland announced that serco was the preferred bidder . 5 this decision was legally challenged in the court of session by rival bidder shetland line 1984 limited on the basis that the scottish government had allegedly not taken into account that their proposed service scored higher in a quality test than serco ltd suspending the securement of the contract . 6 however on 29 may 2012 the court overturned the suspension and serco limited was confirmed as the new operator ending caledonian macbrayne s 10 years of involvement with northern isles ferry services . 7 8 the contract lasts for a six years period and is worth 243m . 9 serco group using the vessels and branding of its predecessor began operation of northern isles ferry services at 15 00 on 5 july 2012 . 10 it has stated that it plans to make no changes to fares or timetables for the remainder of 2012 and that it plans to overhaul catering seating and onboard entertainment . 11 services edit map of ferry services in scotland northlink operates two passenger routes scrabster to stromness orkney 90 minutes aberdeen to lerwick shetland 12 hours 30 minutes northbound ; 12 hours southbound . some services also call at kirkwall orkney which increases the journey time by 2 hours . fleet edit currently the northlink fleet consists of mv hamnavoe on the pentland firth route 112m long mv hjaltland and mv hrossey sister ships on the aberdeen to lerwick via kirkwall route 125m long ms hildasay and ms helliar sister ships used for freight and livestock to orkney and shetland sailing from aberdeen . both ships are on charter from seatruck ferries . former fleet consists of mv hascosay and mv clare formerly used for freight and livestock to orkney and shetland sailing from aberdeen . they were sold in 2010 and 2011 both replaced by both ms hildasay and ms helliar . ferries on the aberdeen route have onboard cinemas and occasional live entertainment . references edit notes edit serco sets sail . serco group plc. 2012 07 05 . retrieved 24 july 2012 . a b c scottish executive the northlink ferry services contract pdf . audit scotland . december 2005 . retrieved 2012 07 24 . alan rehfisch 2007 . ferry services in scotland pdf . spice briefing . scottish parliament information centre . retrieved 2012 07 24 . shortlist announced for northern isles ferry services contract . transport scotland . 2011 11 28 . retrieved 6 july 2012 . new ferry contract set for northern isles . transport scotland . 2012 05 04 . retrieved 6 july 2012 . serco ferry contract on hold after legal challenge . the orcadian . 2012 05 14 . retrieved 24 july 2012 . serco confirmed as northern isles ferry operator . the orcadian . 2012 05 29 . retrieved 24 july 2012 . shetland line 1984 limited v. scottish ministers 2012 csoh 99 29 may 2012 court of session scotland serco confirmed as northern isles ferry operator . bbc news . 29 may 2012 . retrieved 15 september 2014 . serco sets sail northlink ferries service handover complete . northlink ferries . 5 july 2012 . retrieved 6 july 2012 . our plans . serco group plc. retrieved 24 july 2012 . bibliography edit cowsill miles ; smith colin 2016 . the islands lifeline northlink ferries . ramsey isle of man ferry publications . isbn 9781906608972 . external links edit media related to northlink ferries at wikimedia commons northlink ferries official website v t e current ferry operators of scotland international dfds seaways kintyre express p & o ferries stena line domestic argyll ferries caledonian macbrayne clydelink cromarty ferry company inchmurrin island isle of skye ferry company northlink ferries orkney ferries pentland ferries sic ferries steamship sir walter scott trust western ferries retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title northlink ferries & oldid 744165083 categories northlink ferriesferry companies of scotlandnorthern islescompanies based in orkney2006 establishments in scotlandcompanies established in 2006hidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2012commons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages fran aisnorsk bokm lscotssvenska edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 14 21 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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