Lobbying to ensure Shetland emerges with a better deal when the lifeline ferry contract is renewed in 2018 is to be kick-started this summer.
High on the wish list will be securing ships with a higher passenger capacity on the route between Lerwick, Kirkwall and Aberdeen.
That could mean pushing for a smaller number of bigger vessels capable of carrying people and freight, which would be more suitable to deal with the weather conditions in the northern North Sea.
Politicians in the islands were furious that they were not given more input when the specification was being drawn up for the £240 million contract handed to Serco in 2012.
Shetland Islands Council transport official Michael Craigie said ZetTrans, the islands’ transport partnership, would now be contacting interested parties seeking their views.
He warned that negotiations over the 2018 contract were “closer than we might think” adding that it was important to be able to put a “clearly developed set of issues” by the end of the summer.
Mr Craigie said the Hjaltland and Hrossey passenger vessels were “fast, but too small and inefficient”.
The cost of running four ships was “high” and continued pressure on Holyrood budgets would remain a “clear constraint” on how the ferry service develops.
“There’s always been an understanding that 2018 provides an opportunity to do something different,” he said.
Councillor and local wildlife tour operator Jonathan Wills said he favoured the option of two larger cargo and passenger ferries capable of operating in poor weather.
“My concern in the long term is that we have boats capable of operating all year round and that we have sufficient capacity not only for local people but particularly the budget/backpacker market on which Shetland’s tourist industry will depend,” he said.
North mainland councillor Alastair Cooper added that he had spoken to local industry figures who feel hamstrung by having to ship out produce in the afternoon.
They made it “very, very clear that they want a longer operating day to allow them to compete, and I have every sympathy with them”, he said.