Northlink's ferry services have been serving the Northern Isles since 2012 when it took over from P and O and in those past 10 years, it has have transported over 1.5m sheep and over 250,000 cattle through its lairages.
“My family has been using ferries to ship our livestock across to the mainland for generations and during that time we have worked with different ferry providers and witnessed the livestock containers used to transport animals evolve with the latest technology,” explained Lindsay Harvey, a beef and sheep farmer from just outside Kirkwall.
It needs to be a good service for him, as he sends finished stock off the islands most Monday nights to Scotbeef. “The service we now have with Northlink is tremendous. It is the best it has ever been. The animals are given hay and water during transit, and they arrive fresh and in good condition.”
Related Articles:
- Ferry link critical for Northern Isles agriculture's survival
- Agriculture's ferry lifeline to Scotland's Northern Isles
The aluminium containers which ferry the livestock back and forth were built by James Stewart, of Stewart Agricultural, in Inverurie, and include hay racks, water nozzles and inspection lights to enable checks to be made during the trip. There is also a hospital pen, so a specific animal can be separated if required.
Freight manager at NorthLink Ferries, Kris Bevan, told The Scottish Farmer that they view themselves as an integral member of the local communities.
“NorthLink Ferries provide daily connectivity for the agricultural and aquaculture sectors, enabling them to export their products across the UK and the world,” he said.
“Our ships are designed to carry loads of varying size, from cars to over-sized heavy goods vehicles, live animals and fish, temperature-controlled foodstuffs, containers and heavy lift equipment which all support rural island economies.
“The livestock service is provided as part of our lifeline service and in the 10 years that Serco NorthLink Ferries has operated, there have been 1,538,000 sheep and 279,000 cattle carried onboard and transferred through our lairages.
"Our teams, both ship and shore, take great pride in our work support the industry and we look forward to further engagement with the local agriculture community across 2023,” he added.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here