NorthLink Ferries' Orkney Islands ferry departed its Scottish homeports and travelled through the North Channel and the Irish Sea to reach Merseyside to undergo a planned shipyard dry-docking, writes Jehan Ashmore.

According to the operator, which is run by Serco Group plc on behalf of Scottish Ministers, the Scrabster-Stromness (Orkney) route (1 hour 30 mins) will have no sailings across the Pentland Firth and the mainland due to dry-docking dates of MV Hamnavoe. This took place as of yesterday and will continue to Saturday, 17th January.

In a service update, NorthLink Ferries has issued an amended service on routes to Orkney but also on their Shetland Islands services as passenger ships undergo scheduled maintenance at dry dock. These are to involve intervals, as Afloat has noted, starting this month and concluding up to mid-March.

However, while MV Hamnavoe is dry-docked, there will be additional sailings to and from Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, with other NorthLink routes connecting Aberdeen and the Shetland Isles.  Serco also operates the longest routes of the NorthLink network with the direct link between Aberdeen and Lerwick, capital of the Shetlands (12 hrs 30 mins), as well as from the mainland ‘Granite City’ (via Orkney) through Kirkwall and Hatston New Pier (14 hrs 30 mins).

Afloat tracked the MV Hamnavoe to Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, where, also at the shipyard's adjoining Tranmere Wet Basin, were another Scottish state-operated company ferry, CalMac’s Glen Sannox; as previously reported, the Manx Government-owned Isle of Man Steam Packet’s seasonal high-speed craft Mannanan; and a diving support vessel, Seven Falcon.

When Hamnavoe transited the North Channel, it was midway between the Larne and Cairnryan ferryports, having departed Stromness, Orkney, on Sunday night.

At Larne is the routine presence of P&O’s European Causeway and the unusual call by X Expedition/Hurigruten coastal cruise ship Spitsbergen, which Afloat tracked weeks ago, having arrived to layover at the Co. Antrim port in early December.

On the Scottish side, P&O’s second serving ship on the 1 hour 45 minute route connecting Cairnryan was the European Highlander, which was underway, and at neighbouring Loch Ryan Port, the Stena Superfast VIII was already in the open sea but bound for Belfast Harbour. Its twin, Stena Superfast VII, was also in service, sailing out of Belfast Lough on yet another crossing of the 2-hour-15-minute route.

The 600-passenger/95-car/20-lorry-capacity Hamnavoe (8,780 tons) likewise has twins, albeit larger, in the form of the 11,270-ton pair, the MV Hjaltland and MV Hrossey, which both operate the Aberdeen-to-Kirkwall-to-Lerwick routes. They also handle 600 passengers but differ with increased car capacity for 150 and 30 lorries.

The trio were custom built in 2022 by the same shipyard, Aker Finnyards, Rauma, in Finland, that also constructed Irish Ferries' cruise ferry Ulysses, which this year marks its 25th anniversary, as Afloat also highlighted.

As for the Scottish operator’s previous trading name, Northlink Orkney and Shetland Ferries had received the three Finnish ferries to service on all of the existing lifeline routes, but they were initially owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland before being acquired by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) in May 2018 by Transport Scotland.

Two years later, Serco was awarded the Scottish Government's £450m contract to continue lifeline services to the Orkney and Shetland Islands, including freight operations by the twins MV Hildasay and MV Helliar, also linking Aberdeen and the North Atlantic archipelagoes. They are to be replaced by newbuilds with a view to awarding a contract next month.  

In addition, the twins were joined by the freighter of the Isle of Man Steam Packet, MV Arrow, following its brief stint of service last year with Jersey's ferry newcomer DFDS, the Danish operator, after it was awarded the lifeline ferry contract to serve the largest of the Channel Islands with the UK and France. Whilst Brittany Ferries controversially was awarded a separate contract serving Guernsey alone, despite an original joint-awarding process of the two Crown Dependency island bailiwicks. 

The Arrow’s 12-month Jersey charter was curtailed, as the freight ferry was replaced ironically by the Commodore Goodwill, which formed part of the Condor Ferries fleet, until the Guernsey-based operator of 60 years was taken over in 2024 by Brittany Ferries. To add to the twist, DFDS acquired the 29-year-old freighter, having become surplus to requirements as Brittany Ferries no longer served the island, and it was renamed Caesarea Trader.

Arrow, however, was sub-chartered by DFDS to NorthLink; but since last month, it has left Scottish waters, having called to Esbjerg, Denmark, and is currently at Dunkirk East, France, from where it arrived two days before the festive season.