Ministerial foreword

Scottish Ministers are responsible for the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) and Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS). These services exist to support the sustainability and growth of island, and some remote mainland, communities and economies. This is why the Scottish Government is committed to significant and sustained investment in these ferry services, and in the vessels and ports that support them.

It is vital that communities and other stakeholders are involved in decisions that impact on their lives and futures. We recognise the current challenges, how these have impacted on the lives of island communities and businesses – and how these challenges will continue to impact if action is not taken now.  As importantly, action must be sustained into the future. 

Our Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) will set out our long-term objectives and policies for ensuring necessary and sustainable transport links for our islands.  This work is underway and will continue throughout 2023, with engagement and consultation at its heart.

I am excited to be sharing with you this draft of the first element of the Islands Connectivity Plan – the Long Term Plan for Vessels and Ports – which sets out the Scottish Government’s long-term investment plans for the CHFS and NIFS networks.

We will reduce the average age of the fleet to around 15 years by the end of this decade

This draft Long-Term Plan for Vessels and Ports looks forward to 2045 – well beyond the current Parliamentary term. The Plan therefore covers the replacement of the entire CHFS and NIFS fleets and aligns to the date of the Government’s legal obligation to achieve net zero climate emissions.

The draft Plan sets a key network-wide objective that has been established through stakeholder engagement. The top priority identified by stakeholders was to improve resilience and reliability – we will aim to do this by reducing the average age of the CHFS and NIFS fleet to 15 years old by the end of the 2020s. On this basis we have based the draft Plan on our ambitions to replace the fleet and enhance resilience as quickly as possible, but this will be subject to affordability and value for money, with each project assessed and developed through detailed business plans.

Due to the longevity of the Plan it will rely on the commitment of future Governments as well as on the budget approval of the current and future Parliaments.  In that, I am encouraged by the interest in ferry services across the Parliament and by the recognition of the importance of planning for, and investing in, new vessels and port works.

Like any Plan it will have to be adapted in response to future changes – to that extent it can only ever reflect plans at a single point in time.  But my ambition is that the first version of the Long-Term Plan for Vessels and Ports commands wide support from island communities and stakeholders as well as from across the political spectrum.

We will therefore take the necessary time to ensure that the final published first version of this Long-Term Plan reflects the responses to this draft, as well as the results of impact assessments, the outcomes of planned assessments of community needs and the outputs of the Parliamentary inquiries being undertaken by the Public Audit Committee and the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

I would encourage everyone with an interest to submit their comments.