No north ferry sailing until Sunday night after Hrossey is hit by supply boat

The NorthLink ferry Hrossey has been damaged by another vessel while berthed in Aberdeen Harbour and as a result there will be no northbound sailing until Sunday night.

However the Hjaltland will sail south as scheduled at 5.30pm tonight, after being stuck in Lerwick for the last two days.

Repairs to the Hrossey, which was struck by the passing oil rig supply vessel, are expected to take more than 36 hours. The ferry’s next scheduled departure from Aberdeen is on Sunday evening.

The accident involving the Hrossey happened on Thursday evening while berthed at Jamieson’s Quay. She was hit by the Maersk Finder and the impact, on the port side and above the water line, left two deep gouge marks in the side of the ship which partially penetrated the steel plate.

In a statement NorthLink said: “Hrossey will be out of service until the damaged section has been replaced in a permanent repair. Unfortunately the nature of the damage is such that a quicker temporary repair is not possible.

“Accordingly, tonight’s (Friday) northbound sailing and tomorrow night’s (Saturday) southbound sailing from Lerwick have been cancelled. It is envisaged that Hrossey will resume service with the northbound sailing to Kirkwall and Lerwick on Sunday night. Passengers are currently being informed. NorthLink apologises for the inconvenience caused.”

Meanwhile all the freight boats are expected to operate to schedule today.

The Hildasay will leave Lerwick at 6pm sailing for Aberdeen and the Clare, currently berthed in Aberdeen, will sail for Lerwick at 6pm.

The disruption to ferry services has taken its toll on supplies to local shops – town supermarkets today had bare shelves as “south” bread, fruit, vegetables and meat remained unreplenished.