Pentland Ferries

From The Times March 6, 2009

A new ferry service is due to begin between John o' Groats and Orkney, using a revolutionary £7 million, 70-metre catamaran brought from the Philippines.

The service which will carry up to 300 passengers, 30 cars and three lorries at a time, is being launched by Andrew Banks, 46, a local farmer's son, who says it will be quicker and more efficient than his heavily subsidised rivals.

It will either make Mr Banks's fortune or prove to be another maritime disaster. The so-called short sea crossing runs over the Pentland Firth, one of the most perilous stretches of water in Britain, from Gills Bay, near John o' Groats, to St Margaret's Hope, on the southern tip of the Orkney mainland. It has been the Holy Grail of northern ferry routes for nearly a hundred years.

The established ferry service, from Scrabster, near Thurso, to Stromness on Orkney, takes an hour and a half. Mr Banks reckons he can shave 20 minutes off that time, and though his prices will be roughly the same, he aims to offer a better deal to freight operators and tourists.

Mr Banks was born and raised in Orkney. His family are traditional farmers, though in recent years they have diversified into tug charter and fish farming. Some 12 ago he acquired the rights to operate out of the Gills Bay harbour, with the eventual aim of establishing a new short sea crossing.

It was a bold, some might say foolhardy move. In the 1980s Orkney island council had burnt its fingers badly, sinking millions into a similar scheme only to see storms carry off its expensive pier and landing facilities. The cost of building a breakwater was considered prohibitive and the venture was abandoned. Mr Banks's response was to buy an old dry dock in Shetland, which he towed to Gills Bay and sank as a breakwater before asking the authorities for permission.

“I knew if I did ask for permission,” he admits, “they wouldn't give it. They asked me to do an environmental whatsit, which I did. It's all legal now.”

Mr Banks, who at one stage lived on the site in a caravan, has bought very little new equipment “It's all very green,” he explains. “Everything is recycled!”

In the early days he bought several old Cal-Mac ferries to transport goods and cattle, which regularly broke down. These used up scarce funds, not least through their large fuel and crewing bills. One grounding even necessitated calling out the lifeboat.

But along with a certain notoriety as a maverick came popularity. In 2004 Mr Banks won a newspaper award as the Orcadian citizen of the year. His ferry service did good business. Then he spotted the potential of a catamaran, the Pentalina, which he sailed himself from the Philippines to Orkney. The 10,000-mile journey was fraught. There were problems with the engines, the sewerage, the glue on the flooring and the bow thrusters (which still remain a problem) and what might have been a month-long voyage turned into an eight-month one.

Asked why he thinks he can make a profit where others have failed, Mr Banks says simply: “Everything in the public system costs ten times more than in the private.”

Many observers, including Tavish Scott, the Shetland MSP and former Transport Minister, are of the opinion that catamarans might have a role to play in sheltered ferry routes but few other than Mr Banks had ever envisaged them crossing the Firth.

The project is now many months behind schedule, and a tentative attempt to land at Gills Bay earlier in February was foiled by the defective bow thrusters. Mr Banks believes that the ferry will be operating this summer, though his competitors are sceptical.

Bill Davidson, head of the government-backed North Link ferry services, acknowledges Mr Banks's skill as an entrepreneur, but is concerned about many aspects of his business. He says: “Like many others, I will be interested to see how his new catamaran copes with the Pentland Firth, as the academics suggest it is not suited to these waters.”

“The proof of the pudding will be in the eating,” retorts Mr Banks, and then returns to trying to get those bow thrusters fixed.

Good luck to Andrew, I am sure he will get the Pentalina sorted and get it back on the run soon and give us the extra choice. We are spoiled for choice now , we have never had so much choice of times as we do now. I use both Pentland Ferries and Northlink I simply choose what suits me at the time and whats availabe due to weather and availability.