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Streamline left disappointed by ferry case challenge

Lerwick Harbour
Lerwick Harbour

Streamline has expressed its disappointment after a judge ruled in favour of the Scottish Government over its £12.7 million legal challenge to the award of the north boats contract to Serco back in 2012.

The company pursued the government for compensation for what it believed was a flawed procurement process, but Lord Doherty dismissed its case last week.

Streamline alleged that the government had not been as clear as the law dictates in its specification for the freight side of the contract.

A court of session hearing took place over seven days last December.

Lord Doherty sided with Transport Scotland’s head of ferries policy and contracts, Judith Ainsley, who said she had made it clear to bidders that it was down to them to decide how best to provide a freight service on the route.

Crichton claimed that, had it known there was no need to provide a load on/load off freight service as part of the contract, they would have presented a cheaper bid than the successful £223 million one from Serco.

But the judge said Streamline was presenting “hypothetical” figures “with hindsight and knowledge of the winning bid”.

In response, Streamline chairman Stuart Roberts said management and staff had put “a great deal of time and effort” into both the 2012 tender and pursuing the case since.

But he accepted that Doherty’s opinion “draws a line under the matter for us” and it would “take what we have learned from the process and look to future service developments for the Northern Isles”.

Crichton said it was “gratifying to have confirmed in court the very marked difference around service quality between the Shetland Line [Streamline] bid and the winning Serco bid”.

“We now know that our bid outscored that of Serco on almost every aspect of service,” he said, “with more capacity, more frequent departures, enhanced timetables, improved fare structures, better start-up planning, enhanced marketing, a more robust operating approach including on health and safety, quality and environmental management.”