The Scottish Government Draft Long-Term Plan for Vessels and Ports - Consultation

The Scottish Government has published a draft Long-Term plan for vessels and ports on the Clyde & Hebrides (CHFS) and Northern Isles (NIFS) networks (2023 – 2045). This is the first element of its Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) which is proposed to replace the Scottish Ferries Plan (which has set out the framework for Scotland’s ferry services since 2013).

The draft Plan provides details about the Scottish Government’s objectives for the CHFS and NIFS networks. The draft Plan has been developed in line with the objectives of the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP), published in February 2021, which are:

• improve resilience,
• improve reliability,
• improve capacity,
• improve accessibility,
• increase standardisation, and
• reduce emissions.

In line with input received from stakeholders during its development, the top priority of the draft Plan is to improve the resilience and reliability of the ferry service. The envisaged method of achieving this is through (i) upgrading existing infrastructure and (ii) reducing the average age of the CHFS and NIFS vessels to 15 years by the end of the 2020s.

The plan sets out the “baseline scenario” – the minimum which is required for services and communities to be sustained – and the investment programme which is anticipated to be required to:

• renew the fleet;
• upgrade ports as required in light of their age and condition; and
• improve reliability and resilience.

The draft Plan acknowledges that “significant and sustained” additional funding will be required to keep pace with demand. Although the IIP has committed investment of at least £580 million into ports and vessels during the next five years, not including Hulls 801 and 802 (currently under construction in Scotland), the delivery of the proposals outlined in the draft Plan will be subject to annual budget reviews going forward. As such, the draft Plan proposes an “Investment Prioritisation” approach to help guide decisions as to where funding should be allocated. These prioritisation decisions will need to be approved by Ministers at the relevant time.

In addition to setting out the “baseline scenario” for the continuity of service, the draft identifies a number of opportunities to enhance the port and ferry networks across the lifespan of the plan. These include a two-vessel summer service on the Skye Triangle and a potential three-vessel service on Craignure-Oban. The realisation of these opportunities, however, would be subject to value for money and affordability assessments. The draft Plan acknowledges that “the opportunity to implement some of these enhancements is likely to come in the longer-term, once the significant investment identified for the next decade to maintain the current network of services has been secured”.

The draft also refers to recommendations made in the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2) – not just for the renewal and replacement of ferries but also their progressive decarbonisation and for the necessary supporting investment in port infrastructure. We covered the key points of STPR2 here.

The draft plan has been advanced to key stakeholders for initial feedback. It will be updated based on the responses and a final draft Plan will be issued in early 2023 for public consultation as part of the wider Islands Connectivity Plan. The final version of the Plan will contain the strategic business case for a sustained investment programme, intended to support future decision-making processes.

Article co-authored by Eleanor Lane, Ailsa Ritchie and Jason Cowan