Seòmar agus comataidhean

Our next agenda item is an evidence session as part of our inquiry into a modern and sustainable ferry service for Scotland. I refer members to the papers for the item.

This is the fifth evidence session in our inquiry into Scotland’s ferry services. Today, we are pleased to be joined by a panel of academics with specialist knowledge of maritime transport and ferries in Scotland who were members of the previous Scottish Government’s ferry expert group.

I welcome our panellists. Dr Alf Baird is former professor of maritime business and director of the maritime transport research group at Edinburgh Napier University; Neil Kay is professor emeritus in the economics department of the University of Strathclyde; and Roy Pedersen is an author and consultant. Thank you for accepting our invitation and for the written submissions that have been sent in. We are delighted to have you here.

We have allocated up to 75 minutes for this session. I will start by asking each of you to outline briefly what island and remote rural communities need from their ferry service. That is a fairly open question, but it gives you an opportunity to make some introductory remarks.

That point was well made by users and communities during our inquiry visits, particularly in the Western Isles.

You do that on a continuous basis?

Not when I do not have my long-distance glasses on. [Laughter.] If you can leave that with us, that will be helpful.

Mr Pedersen, as you might appreciate, I wanted to check the situation, and I can confirm that you are, indeed, covered by privilege in what you say to the committee.

I will stick with you and ask about project Neptune, which has been published. We will see which recommendations are implemented, but will you share some views on project Neptune? I will then come to Neil Kay.

I must interrupt, as we have another panel session to come. Your points have been well made.

Jackie, do you have anything else to ask?

Thank you very much. I know that far more can be said about these issues, and I am sure that you would like to discuss them further, but we very much appreciate you coming in and sharing your expertise with us.

I suspend the meeting to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

What do you want to ask her?

We want to make sure that you have had the opportunity to say what you want to the inquiry. If there is anything that you want to share with us that you have not shared to date, this is an opportunity for you to do so.

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. I hope that we will come back to many of the points that you have raised. The point about net zero considerations and energy use is interesting. Later, Neil Kay can perhaps address the difference of opinion there. That would be interesting to hear.

We need to move on. I will go to Liam Kerr for the next set of questions, to be followed by Jackie Dunbar.