Shetland’s inter-island ferry service to Yell and Whalsay suffered a week of disruption after the largest Whalsay vessel, Linga (2002/658gt, pictured), was side-lined by a fault with one of its three MFI diesel generators, the problems also coinciding with the planned introduction of a new electronic booking system to Yell Sound services. Over 1,200 bookings had been taken on Whalsay during the previous two weeks, before the introduction was postponed due to vessel changes during Linga’s absence, which meant that crews had to individually manage deck space on each sailing to ensure as many vehicles as possible could be carried.
A Danish specialist was flown in to resolve the Poland-built Linga’s problem, the vessel to returning to service in the evening of 22 May. Whalsay’s second ferry, Hendra (1982/248gt), had taken over Linga’s schedule, with Fivla (1985/230gt) brought from Yell Sound, where she had been standing in during the annual overhaul of Dagalien (2004/1,861gt). There, stand-by ferry Thora (1975/147gt) came in from Sella Ness to cover for Fivla. Aboard Linga, the problem was traced to a fault in an electronic governor, which was restricting the amount of fuel getting to one of the generators.
