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Fife ferry back in the waters by 2009

Ferry Online Travel News 28/02/2008

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A ferry between Edinburgh and Fife could float by 2009

Transportation chiefs are predicting that ferry services between Edinburgh and Fife could be in full operation by the end of 2009, according to an announcement made on Thursday.

The first step to making such a service a reality is updating the harbour. Accordingly, officials have ordered detailed designs made of the infrastructure improvements required to host a 75-passenger ferry between Burntisland and Granton.

It is expected that the designs will be finished by autumn this year. If the work goes according to schedule, actual developments will commence in April next year, assuming the plans are approved and that funding is secured for the project.

The trip between Burntisland and Granton would take approximately 20 minutes by ferry but will require an estimated £3.4 million in public funds in order to develop. In principle, Fife and Edinburgh councils have already respectively committed half the funds required for the project.

According to a feasibility study conducted last year by Sestran, the ferry service, once launched, would not require and additional public subsidy to operate and would likely be under the responsibility of a private operator.

Fife Council's head of transport, Dr Bob McLellan, said that he was confident the project would be finished by early 2010 at the latest. "We have taken a very methodical approach to the ferry project and we are on target with our development and design timescales,” he said.

"We are currently putting together a budget for infrastructure costs – and we are confident that potential operators will come forward to provide the services,” he added.

A ferry once took passengers from Burntisland to Granton but was forced to stop operating because of a dwindling number of customers on the route. When the Spirit of Fife first began operating in 1991, it carried 99,000 passengers a year, however by 1993, only 60,000 passengers a year were recorded, leading to the ferry’s termination.

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