'Marco Polo' plan pursued in Shetland

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The planned ' Motorway of the Sea' linking Kristiansund in Norway, Rosyth in the UK and Zeebrugge in Belgium has unexpectedly run into a snag. While not grounded completely, the plan has certainly been hit by a delay.

The freight service is important for the remote area of the Shetland Islands.

Due to start at the end of this year, the Norshukon Link service failed to get the EU Marco Polo grant it needed because of an apparent competition issue hinging on the link's providing another freight service when the Rosyth-Zeebrugge route was already covered by Superfast.

However, Superfast announced withdrawal of their service soon after the Norshukon application and Shetland businessman John White, who has been selected as the preferred operator of the service, said that with the new realities in place there should be no barrier to getting the funding. He added that while 'disappointed' at the failure of the plan this year, he is putting in a resubmission in January 2009.

There could be benefits arising from the delayed start, which means that the new service gets up and running with a larger and more efficient vessel than was originally planned.

Mregruppen AS (a Norwegian public/private consortium involved in the process), said that the project has been developing for a number of years and that there is a need for a rapid sea transport from mid-Norway to Shetland, the UK and continental Europe, especially as it is a route that reduces haulage pollution from overland to alternatives.

The service will operate two vessels linking the partnership areas. One will connect Kristiansund, Zeebrugge and Rosyth (with onward UK and global links) while the other will connect Kristiansund and Shetland (with onward links to Orkney, Aberdeen and Scrabster).

The service will enhance economic development, always a concern in the remote areas, increase port utilisation and provide increased opportunities for trade within the partnership area.

Ken Duerden, transport operations manager of Shetland Island Council, told MJ that he had hopes for development of the link. 'While it will be freight only to start with we are hoping it will eventually extend into a passenger service', he said.