Shetland Inter-Isle Transport Study

The Shetland Inter Island Transport Study (SIITS) published in December 2016 provided the Strategic Business Case for the future of inter-island transport services and infrastructure covering the next 30 years or so in Shetland.

The study provided the basis for successfully securing additional funding for the costs of ferry services of £5.0 million in 2018/19 and a further £5.2 million for 2019/20.

To secure longer term funding for the running of services and the building of new infrastructure, the Council and ZetTrans are undertaking four Outline Business Cases that will be used to continue the case for funding from Scottish Government. The four Outline Business Cases are: -

  • Ferry Service Levels (covering all islands in Shetland)
  • Inter-Island Air Services
  • Fair Isle Ferry Replacement
  • Whalsay Transport Link

Over the course of the current work on the Whalsay Transport Link the issue of a fixed link to Whalsay (in the form of a tunnel) has continued to be a high profile issue.

Recognising the importance of this, a paper on fixed links and how they were addressed in the work to date and how they are being taken forward has been prepared and is available through the link below.

Whalsay fixed link study

The document sets how fixed links were addressed in the first study, why they were filtered out as short to medium term solutions and what is now being done to maintain fixed links as alternatives to ferries in the future of inter-island transport connectivity.