Industry Transport Area served Orkney Owner Andrew Banks | Headquarters Orkney, Scotland Services Ferries Founded 1997 | |
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Type of business Private Limited with share capital | ||
Pentland Ferries is a privately owned, family company which has operated a ferry service between Gills Bay in Caithness, Scotland and St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in Orkney since May 2001. The company is one of only two major vehicle ferry operators plying within Scotland which are not subsidised by the Scottish Government or local authorities.
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History
Pentland Ferries was founded by its present managing director, Andrew Banks, in 1997. In October that year he purchased the Caledonian MacBrayne passenger and vehicle ferry Iona. Banks obtained a 99-year lease on the Gills Bay terminal, about 3 miles west of John o' Groats. After two years work improving the site, and further work at St Margaret's Hope, he started operating the short sea crossing with Pentalina B in May 2001. The service was summer only in its first few seasons, but is now operated year-round with the custom built passenger and vehicle catamaran Pentalina.
An earlier attempt to operate the short sea crossing between Caithness and Orkney had been abandoned in 1989, mainly because of the exposed conditions at Gills Bay.
Fleet
The current catamaran ferry, MV Pentalina, was built in the Philippines for the Pentland Firth, where it entered service in March 2009. The ferry has a capacity of 350 passengers and either 32 cars and 8 articulated lorries or an increased number of cars, with a service speed of 18 knots.
The original ferry, former Caledonian MacBrayne vessel MV Iona, was purchased in October 1997 and renamed Pentalina-B. The first drive-through MacBrayne ferry with both bow and stern doors, she carried around 50 cars, or 4–5 articulated lorries and fewer cars. During the off-seasons since 2006, she was chartered out, carrying livestock across the channel from Dover and providing freight relief for CalMac. She was sold to an owner in Cape Verde in late 2009.
Another former CalMac vessel, MV Claymore, was owned between October 2002 and March 2009. After another attempt at starting up the Orkney to Invergordon route fell through, the vessel was put to work during the winter season in place of Pentalina-B. Claymore was sold in March 2009.
The fleet also includes a barge, used for dredging at Gills in the summer and an extension to the pier at St Margaret's Hope in the winter, a former fishing boat, to tow the barge and a tug / workboat for general duties. In addition to the usual tractor units and tugs for moving trailers and other cargo equipment there are a number of pieces of construction and earth-moving equipment not usually required by a ferry company.
In Feb 2015 the company has bought MV Saturn, to be used as a freight vessel.
Route
The Short Sea Crossing is the quickest route across the Pentland Firth by car, taking under 1 hour. Due to the short sailing time the vessels have a cafeteria for meals and refreshments, but no cabin accommodation.
Future prospects
Talks continue over gaining access to the Burwick terminal on South Ronaldsay, from which the service could operate. The Burwick terminal would cut the crossing time to about 30 minutes, but would probably be used only during the summer months due to its exposed location.
There have been talks about installing a linkspan at Wick. Andrew Banks owns the old linkspan from Stromness and has offered it to the harbour for a nominal sum. Wick is sheltered when Gills Bay is closed by westerly winds and a reduced service could be maintained in all but the worst weather.