Shetland Islands Council paid £450,000 for emergency repairs to its ferry MV Geira to prevent the Bluemull Sound route being left with only one vessel for a “considerable amount of time”.
Councillors were told the 28-year-old ferry was undergoing its annual refit and problems emerged that required immediate action.
The local authority’s new executive manager for ferries Craig Robertson said that it had been an “entirely unforeseeable event”.
During the 2015/16 refit at Malakoff’s Lerwick slipway, the Geira’s rubber belting fenders were removed to allow grit blasting of the steel plating.
When the grit blasting was completed, a “significant amount of pitting and weaknesses” were identified in the steel plates.
Further examination identified significant degradation of the plates and it was clear repairs had to be carried out before returning the Geira to service.
The ferry operates a “roll on, roll off” vehicle and passenger service between the islands of Yell, Unst and Fetlar.
There is a provision within the council’s standing orders for such repairs to be carried out without putting the work out to tender.
Marine engineer Lee Coutts’ report stated it was unclear why the steel plates had become so badly degraded. Possible causes include “sea water ingress through the protective paint coating or rubber belting rubbing and causing wear of the protective coating”.
More frequent inspections of the Geira – built in Yorkshire back in 1988 – will take place in the future to minimise the chances of a repeat.
The estimated cost of £450,000 will be found from savings and underspends within the council’s infrastructure budget.
North Isles councillor Robert Henderson said: “It worries me greatly to see this happening on this occasion, and to see emails being bandied about that there’s been no contact made with the Scottish Government about fixed links”.
The Geira is not the only SIC ferry to have been in the wars lately. Councillors also heard that over £30,000 of repairs had to be carried out to Whalsay ferry the Linga, which normally operates on the Symbister-Laxo route.
It suffered problems following the failure of an emergency generator on 2 January, resulting in damage that required an engine replacement.
Again work was commissioned immediately to minimise disruption, but a specialist engineer was required to investigate a converter problem.
L&M Engineering supplied and fitted the new engine at a cost of £12,556, while an ABB engineer completed repairs at an estimated cost of £18,270.