Out of Hours Ferry

Out of hours latest news:

Shapinsay Development Trust Purchased The Linnhe Venture on Wednesday the 11th of October. She has now been renamed the “Elwick Bay”. She needs to undergo some work to upgrade the cabin and make a few small changes before we can put her into service. In the mean time, we are working on ensure we have a crew that have all the required tickets. If you have up to date tickets, or would like to get involved and get tickets to be able to help run the service, please get in touch ASAP.

The Out of Hours boat service runs one sailing per day.

SDT have run an out of hours service since around 2011. We closely monitor usage and demand and try to tailor the service accordingly, while trying to keep the service sustainable. Due to the retiral of our stalwart service provider and an increase in fuel prices, we can no longer sustain runs twice per evening or early morning sailings. We have just purchased our own small boat to run the service ourselves, we hope this will give us a little more flexibility to be able to run extra sailings, while keeping long term costs to a minimum. We hope to be able to start running the service ourselves early in 2024.

The timetable is as follows:

Monday-Thursday KWL-Shap at 9pm / Shap-KWL at 9.20pm.

Friday& Saturday KWL Shap at 11pm / SHAP-KWL at11.20pm. (With a minimum 2 weeks notice, this could be arranged to meet the Northlink ferry)

Sunday – SUMMER TIMETABLE – NO SERVICE

Any Additional sailings to the timetable will be charged at £100 per sailing regardless of number travelling. SDT will advertise any extra sailings.

Shapinsay Development Trust fund a timetabled, foot-passenger only, service from Shapinsay to the Corn Slip (opposite Helgis Bar) at Kirkwall pier, daily, in certain tides and weather conditions, the boat will berth behind the Lifeboat Station at the Shapinsay slip. This service is subsidised through funds from Whirly, the island turbine.

Fares

Fares for the scheduled sailings are;
Adults – £8.50 / Age 12-Adult – £2 / Unders 12s –  FREE

**Bookings to meet the Northlink Ferry will incur an extra charge – see below for details**

View the bookings calendar here.

You can make a booking online by completing the form below.

Please make bookings between 9am and 5pm daily. Any messages sent out-with these hours will be processed as soon as possible. You can get in touch using the following contact methods or use the booking form below.

Email: shapinsaybookings@gmail.com (Emails are sporadic when they come through on the phone so text, call or whatsapp if you want a faster response)
Phone, voice mail, Whatsapp or text: 07901 575162

SDT staff wil be happy to assist with any queries  –  01856 711733 between 9am and 1pm Monday to Thursday.

Terms

Please note:

• All sailings are ‘weather permitting’ and at the Master’s absolute discretion
• Payment is taken in cash, although card payment is now an option on board. Failure to pay may mean refusal for further bookings.
• From Saturday the 6th of May, Monday to Thursday sailings will be 9pm from Kirkwall and 9.20pm from Shapinsay
• Friday and Saturday Shapinsay to Kirkwall will be 11pm from Kirkwall, 11.20pm from Shapinsay
• Requests can be made for a change of up to 30 minutes in any sailing, but only on one leg of the journey. Minimum two weeks notice is required to book the boat to wait for Northlink sailings at the weekend.
• Passengers must contact the Master once on board the Northlink ferry, to inform him that onward travel is still required – this is to avoid him waiting in Kirkwall for people who aren’t on board the Ferry.
• Emergencies will be accommodated where possible; please contact the co-ordinator.
• Sailings will only operate when there are prior bookings indicated on the Keep and Share Calendar. To check current bookings please use the online calendar here or contact the coordinator.
• All bookings must be cancelled in advance if not needed, with as much notice as possible. Passengers wishing to cancel before 5pm should contact the bookings coordinator (07901 575162). After 5pm the main point of contact is the Master (07825459242). In this case a text message must also to be sent to the transport co-ordinator.

• If a booking is not cancelled in advance (i.e. “no-shows’) passengers will incur a charge of £8.50. After 2 no-shows in a period of one year, a charge of £100 will be incurred for any further no-shows.
• If there is demand for organised groups to have regular times changed, requests should be made to the coordinator. Any decisions will be made by the board with consultation with the crew
• If space is available (and at the absolute discretion of the Master) you may join any crossing if that sailing has been previously booked to run, a call to the Master to ensure timings is advised. A ‘first come, first served’ policy applies with priority given to booked passengers. Please do not assume that an outward, or return service will run at the published time as the sailing will only run if previously booked by other passengers, there may have been a late cancellation or if all booked passengers are ready, the sailing may leave early.