Orkney Islands Council, in partnership with the Highlands and Islands Regional Transport Partnership (HITRANS) and Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) has commissioned a STAG study to investigate the future of air and ferry services within the Orkney Archipelago.

As part of this study, a high level review is being prepared of the service delivery, setting out the factual position with respect to the current air and ferry services.

Working with Peter Brett Associates, Beckett Rankine has been asked to help establish the position with respect to all the elements of ‘hard’ infrastructure and assets required to provide the current inter-island ferry services, with particular emphasis on piers and harbours.

Our main task is to produce a working paper summarising the specifics of each port or harbour including a high level and non-technical overview of infrastructure at each location, a condition assessment, a review of shore side assets and commentary on the current state of repair of each facility.

We started with an inspection of the ferry terminals to see how the inter-island ferry services are currently operated. This included an overview of the day-to-day landside operations, the quality of each berth in terms of protection from the weather etc. and a review of berth maintenance.

These reviews will be used to inform the options for the development of future services across the Orkney Archipelago. This will be followed by some conceptual development of future requirements at the ports to suit possible upgrades to the ferry services.