Delivering for Scilly | Issue 4 | April 2021

MAGAZINE OF THE ISLES OF SCILLY STEAMSHIP GROUP

Delivering for Scilly

Issue 4 | Spring 2021

International Women’s Day We are proud to have a strong female workforce and to champion women working in the maritime industry.

Delivering for Scilly Despite difficult times, we have continued to go above and beyond demonstrating our core values and ‘Delivering for Scilly’

Flowers from Scilly Freight team and flower growers pull together working tirelessly to get flowers from Scilly in time for Mother’s Day.

Steamship St I S L E S O F S C I L LY

GROUP

Isles of Scilly

Delivering for Scilly

In this issue of Delivering for Scilly This issue of Delivering for Scilly is full of stories that demonstrate our mission, vision, and values. On pages 10-15 you can read about examples of how we have gone above and beyond to deliver for Scilly over the past few months, including our recent work with the Isles of Isles of Scilly Steamship Company Limited, Steamship House, Quay Street, Penzance Cornwall TR18 4BZ Delivering for Scilly is produced

by Isles of Scilly Steamship Group inhouse communications team.

Delivering for Scilly

Scilly Wildlife Trust to help clean up Scilly’s beaches (pages 1213). We also are proud to have worked collaboratively with the Isles of Scilly community and NHS to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine which you can read about on page 10.

T +44 (0) 1736 334240 marketing@islesofscilly-travel.co.uk Editor Sharon Sandercock ssandercock@islesofscilly-travel.co.uk

Head to page 9 to read about the success of our trial drone flight as part of our collaboration with Flylogix, and you can find updates of our New Vessel Replacement project over on pages 16-17.

With grateful thanks to all team members who’ve helped contribute articles and photos. Opinions expressed are the authors’ and not necessarily those of the company. Whilst every effort is made to ensure total accuracy Isles of Scilly Steamship Group cannot be help responsible for any errors or omissions within this magazine. When you have finished with this magazine please pass it on or recycle it.

Financial Performance The Company made a loss in February of £555,000. Despite the significant loss this was £105,000 better than anticipated due to the implementation of cost saving measures throughout the Company and continued use of the furlough scheme. The ongoing impact of COVID-19 continues to be challenging despite the receipt of government funding during the year. As at the end of February, despite the receipt of funding, the Group’s financial performance was £306,000 behind last year. As a seasonal business, the months of January, February and March have historically been loss making but with extremely low passenger numbers over winter due to the lockdown, this has put even more pressure on the Company. Please continue to support the Company in all that you are doing.

Health & Safety Update Since arrival of the virus in the UK in March 2020, like all other business, the pandemic required that we review all of our operations, and risk assess all that we do, to protect our employees and passengers from the unseen threat the virus posed. It is worth reflecting on what we have achieved over the last year.

We have adapted to ensure our operations and premises are ‘Covid Secure’ including introducing different shift patterns and work bubbles, physical changes to our premises and aircraft, and getting to grips with meeting colleagues online rather than face to face, and for some working from home. Our entire workforce has had to get used to social distancing, wearing masks and maintaining high levels of hand hygiene.

Travel on Scillonian III and Skybus changed with increased measures.

Scillonian III saw the introduction of one way systems on-board. Baggage drop off and collections were changed to enable social distancing on the quays - this proved so effective, and popular with passengers that it is intended these changes will remain for the 2021 season.

Employees and all other staff employed in communications and customer facing roles fully embraced the challenges

of providing Covid secure travel. And during the first lockdown in 2020 the crew of the Gry Maritha stayed on-board the vessel for the entire duration of their two week rotation.

Our customer facing and front line colleagues have worked incredibly hard to communicate our new arrangements and precautions to our passengers, hauliers, sub-contractors and the many other business we interact with whilst still maintaining a positive customer experience.

In August 2020 we impressed the HSE during their visit to Land’s End Airport and we received compliments on the precautions we had implemented. Even our businesses on the islands have been visited by Environmental Health Officers to check on our Covid secure precautions and have passed with flying colours.

What is very positive and encouraging is that to-date there has been no outbreak, or in-company transmission of the virus.

This is a testament to the very hard work and commitment our employees have made, and are still making every day, to protect themselves, their colleagues, their families, our passengers and our services.

Bookings Bookings for the next couple of months are down on last year due to the current lockdown, February is 87% down and March is 57% down. However we are pleased to say that the last couple of weeks have seen an increase in bookings for the main 2021 season following a new marketing initiative. New bookings have gone from being down 72% to down by 19% for week on week comparison against forward sales in January 2020.

Funding Communications are continuing with government and specifically the Department for Transport for ongoing support during the lockdown period. Any potential further funding is subject to an overall review by the Department for Transport of the company’s financial position and measures that the group are taking to limit the losses being incurred.

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Our values

PEOPLE FOCUS

Saying Goodbye Marcia Still is a well-known face across the group and

“Happy retirement

for our many passengers after working an incredible four

Marcia, you will be

decades on Scillonian III.

greatly missed, and the

Marcia joined us in 1980 as a

comments like ‘summer’s here’ or

stewardess and bar two periods

‘we’ve missed you’.

of working away, had been with us ever since. Her 17 year-long role as ship’s purser started in 2004 and she is stepping down to spend more time with her family and to enjoy some well-earned time on her hobbies.

Leaving on the last day was just

the same without you.

Thank you for all your

as special, as the ship’s whistle

hard work and brilliant

got some extra blasts, and a few

service you have given

people would be on the quay on

the Islands.”

St Mary’s to wave us off. It was always tinged with sadness, but you knew it would only be a few

We are very sorry to see Marcia

months and you would be back

go, and caught up with her to ask

again.”

her about some of her highlights.

Scillonian won’t feel

“Love and thanks from your ship mates past and present.”

As Marcia says her final farewells,

“Thanks Marcia for

“Seeing the basking sharks as

she

we sailed along the coast and

interaction

sightings of dolphins have never

and work colleagues, and the

ceased to delight me, and the

contribution to our lives

satisfaction when it all goes well,

reaction from the passengers was

but certainly hopes to return to

here on Scilly.”

always uplifting.

Scilly to visit the islands she loves

The first sailing of the season

and the many friends she has

“Marcia, you always

when I would go ashore on Scilly,

there.

gave the passengers

it was lovely to be greeted with

Delivering for Scilly

says

she

will

with

miss

the

passengers

your hard work and

your lovely smile.”

International Women’s Day As we reflect on Marcia’s time with the company and as International Women’s Day was celebrated in March; we are proud to have a strong female workforce and to champion women working in the maritime industry. We can always do more, the theme of this year’s IWD event was #ChoosetoChallenge – and for the maritime industry in particular, to help encourage more women to consider careers in maritime, helping to foster more #DiversityinMaritime The Diversity in Maritime programme

was launched in May last year to ensure the sector has a highly skilled diverse workforce. Women in Maritime was the first network in the programme, which now includes many other networks focused on mental health, pride and ethnicity.

Daphne Chudleigh

The Steamship Group has long supported women working in the maritime industry and has a proud heritage of female workers in senior roles who have helped to pave the way for women to pioneer careers in the field.

Women in the workforce Julia Walder

Today there are 45 women working at the Steamship Group, making up 24% of our work force.

female director to join the board in 1998 and remained as part of the board for 17 years.

They include two women in senior leadership roles –Judith Piper, Chief Financial Officer, and Sharon Sandercock, Marketing and Communications Manager.

Other women in key roles at the Group include Jeanette Ware at Island Carriers; Vicky Wiltshire, Finance Manager, and Cath Benoy, Deputy Operations Manager at Land’s End Airport.

Judith is also a Director of the ISSG board, along with Non-Executive Director Sonya Bassett, and Sharon is a Director of the board of the Islands’ Partnership, which manages destination marketing for the islands. Julia Walder, was the first

People Focus

Skybus is proud to have four female pilots, two of whom are captains – Emily Cernow and Charlie Baker. On the maritime side, Vicky Bolitho is the Chief Officer on board Scillonian III.

Daphne Eileen Chudleigh, who died in 2018 at the age of 98, was a former ISSG Company Secretary and a key staff member for over 35 years. Daphne made a lasting contribution to the Group, including writing a book called Bridge Over Lyonnesse which documented 70 years of the Steamship Group’s history.

Daphne’s fascinating career is detailed in a blog on our website and explains how Daphne first came to Scilly after World War Two to recover from a serious illness, and stayed after marrying Bernard Chudleigh from Tresco. Daphne later joined ISSG and remained working for the Group until her retirement, holding the position of Company Secretary for the last 5 years of her career.

In her role, Daphne was pivotal in helping the team gain funding for a new passenger ship, and she also helped to arrange the building and launch of the present Scillonian III.

04 05

Excellence

Customer

Customer satisfaction is of the utm feedback is so vital. We are proud t customer service during the current cir share some of the most recent positiv this t

Great communication and customer service.

I wanted to email you today to pass on my gratitude for how much Jeanette has helped me over the past couple of months trying to organise for 2 of my engineers to come to the Isles of Scilly to carry out some roofing works. I was given what seemed an impossible task of getting my 2 engineers over as well as materials and all other manor of things and I emailed Jeanette one day by chance and she made what seemed an impossible task into something so simple. She took so much stress off of my shoulders as anything I was worried about, she just sorted without hesitation.

She really has been an absolute saviour helping me organise this trip and I really cannot thank her enough for all of her help. She is an absolute credit to your company and her customer service is outstanding.

Delivering for Scilly

In these difficult times you may not have many positive comments (I hope you do!)

We have been travelling regularly to Scilly for nearly 30 years, the last 6 of those by Scillonian III. Can I compliment the harbour team on the wonderful organization of the returning luggage.

When we returned last Friday 18th September the luggage was ready and waiting for us on the quay as we disembarked. It was neatly laid out in individual lots in an area which was labelled with the colour of the container they were in. We had been told the colour when loading our luggage at St Mary’s. Within 5 mins of entering the quay I had collected all 5 bags (with dogs in tow). Brilliant!

The guys are always polite and helpful but you could tell it was stress free for them too.

We are very grateful for the most helpful way you kept us informed during a difficult week and for the excellent service you provided.

I would just like to let you know how pleasant and easy it has been to deal with Isles of Scilly Travel over the last year or so. The original booking, our unfortunate need to defer the flights and now our cancellation due to the ongoing pandemic, have been very easy to arrange, thanks to the professionalism and genuinely helpful attitude of all of your staff.

Feedback

most importance to us, which is why to have maintained a high quality of rcumstances and pleased to be able to ve comments we have received during time.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a massive ‘thank you’ to all the staff and crew on our recent trip to the islands. Everyone could not have been kinder, and this started the moment we dropped off our bags. The crossing going out was very rough, which was a concern as my wife has health issues and restricted mobility.

But she was treated with such kindness, being guided when she used the toilets, and when in the cafe, she was also reassured by a crew member when a little nervous with the rough conditions. The ship was very busy and we thought this degree of attention was very commendable (especially with all the extra work involved with Covid restrictions).

I was trying to arrange a shipment from Bryher, of donations for the Salvation Army, and not knowing how to go about it I rang the Quay in St Mary’s and spoke to James. He also was a little unsure about it but went and got the right information, and he made sure that they went in a container that he had found out was going to the mainland next day. All done and dusted in 10 minutes, exceptionally helpful, the hardest part was telling David he had to collect it all and take it to the quay!

Also thank you to the Steamship Company for transporting this free of charge, somethings do slip under the Radar that the wider public don’t hear of.

To the counter staff at the Scilly airport. I have been meaning to write for a while, about two years in fact, to say thank you. I was the woman lugging multiple bags and two children in one morning out of the lashing rain. We were supposed to be taking the ferry, which one of the kids had been looking forward to very much.

So much so, that he was fighting me every step of the way. Literally. You stayed cool, even as I had him under one arm kicking and screaming, while piling the bags on the carousel. You found a way to get us on a flight so we could get back home as quickly as possible. You explained that the ferry tickets were transferable so it wasn’t as much as I feared. Your understanding and patience was priceless. P.S. my son is still disappointed he didn’t see a whale on the way back so hopefully we’ll be back sometime soon!

It is wonderful to be flying again. I was so impressed by your team 07

1930s Dragon Rapide Propeller Returned to Land’s End Land’s End airport has welcomed the arrival of a 1930s Dragon Rapide propeller, which now takes pride of place on the wall in the airport terminal. This propeller was kindly donated by Penzance RAF Association Club, which has now unfortunately had to close, where it was displayed on their wall for years.

The propeller is likely to have been one of the many Rapide and engine parts that were kept in their masses at Land’s End airport for years. The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide was a 1930s British short-haul

1930’S DRAGON RAPIDE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Crew Capacity

1 8 Passengers

Length

10.5m

Wingspan

14.6m

Height Wing area

3.1m 32m2

Empty weight

1460kg

Loaded weight

2490kg

Powerplant

2 x de Havilland Gipsy Six inline engine, 200hp (149Kw) each

PERFORMANCE Maximum 157mph speed (136kn, 253 km/h) at 1000 ft (305m) Range 573 mi (498nmi, 930km) Service ceiling Rate of climb

16700 ft (5090m) 867ft/min (4.3m/s)

Wing loading 16lb/ft2 (7 0km/m2) Power/mass

Delivering for Scilly

0.036 hp/lb (60 W/kg)

biplane airliner for 6-8 passengers. It provided an economical and durable craft, despite its relatively primitive plywood construction. Its first flight was on 17th April 1934 with a total of 731 built over 10 years. The Rapide replaced the DH Dragons on the Land’s End to Scilly route. They had to use the original Dragon hangar, which was not wide enough for their wings, so they had small trolleys to go under the wheels to push them sideways.

It is possible that this propeller came from stock that Edward, Prince of

Wales (later Edward VIII) owned.

He had a Dragon Rapide (G-ADDD) which he later used for royal duties.

He flew this aircraft to London on his accession to King in 1936, being the first British monarch to fly.

One of the pilots of the scheduled Rapide flights to the Scillies in the 50s was Captain George Garland, who had served in the war as a Hurricane pilot and had crashed on landing receiving substantial burns.

We are thrilled to have a piece of our history returned to Land’s End airport.

Collaboration

Successful Drone Trial Flight to the Isles of Scilly

In the last issue of Delivering for Scilly you may have read about our collaborative project with the company Flylogix, and our application for regulatory consent from the CAA to carry out a trial flight. We have been working with Flylogix to develop a drone delivery flight service as a new lifeline connection between the mainland and the Isles of Scilly and have now also opened up the prospect of drone operations between airports across the UK.

commercial airports. While this was only a 60-mile round trip, the UAV travelled over some of the UK’s most rugged scenery and out over the Atlantic, carrying an NHS supply box on the outward leg, and returning with a selection of local produce from the islands, including flowers and artisan gin.

Following the successful proving flight, there are plans to introduce a daily drone freight service between the mainland and Scilly this year for a three-month trial period, and work towards a full commercial operation using a bespoke freight UAV within two years.

with many businesses on the islands excited by the positive impact this will have on the community and the many artisan island businesses here.

On its return flight to Land’s End Airport, the drone was packed with a variety of produce from the Isles of Scilly including flowers, gin, clothing and hand sanitiser. Businesses on Scilly have welcomed the prospect of a commercial drone service.

We are honoured to be one of just a handful chosen to work with the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s Innovation Team alongside the likes of Amazon and Boeing to help keep the UK’s aviation sector at the forefront of technology development and look forward to seeing how the project evolves.

After permission to carry out the trial, in December 2020 we saw the successful return flight of the drone from Land’s End Airport to St Mary’s Airport, which marked the first ever The project has been welcomed freight drone flight between two UK by the Council of the Isles of Scilly Stuart Reid I Chief Executive Officer “When a group of islanders formed the Steamship Company all those years ago, they scarcely could have imagined today’s amazing milestone, delivering goods using an unmanned aircraft.

We’ve shown that a drone freight service is not only technically feasible but that there is demand for its potential to deliver time-sensitive and high value items for the island community, using aircraft that have 98% fewer emissions than a manned equivalent.”

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OUR VISION: DELIVERING FOR SCILLY A hundred and one years later, we are here to provide the islands with what they need. One way or another, everything we do helps us to achieve that. Our mission is to be recognised for providing excellent transport services for Scilly, which is at the heart of our company. Over the past few months, the company has demonstrated exceptional examples of our company values and ‘delivering for Scilly’ that we hope you, our employees, and islanders can be proud of. From rescued seal pups to COVID vaccinations, find out what we have been up to.

Delivering COVID Vaccinations to Scilly Our values

COLLABORATION We were honoured once again to deliver for Scilly with transporting hundreds of doses of the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine by Skybus.

We have been working alongside the primary care team based on Scilly and Helston Medical Centre to help coordinate the arrival of the vaccine to aid the military precision rollout.

The first to receive their vaccines were the residents and staff of Isles of Scilly care home, followed by frontline health and care workers and then everyone in the priority groups.

Robert Francis, Chairman of the Isles of Scilly, said the news of the rollout of the vaccine on the islands has come as a huge relief to the community. He said “The vaccine planning has been an excellent example of this integrated working. There’s still a long way to go, but the arrival of the vaccine marks an important step forwards in our fight against the pandemic.”

There has been a great deal of praise for all involved in the process involving the safe arrival of the vaccine and the rollout of the programme to residents.

“I cannot heap enough praise on everyone who has been involved with the safe arrival of the vaccine and the rollout of the programme to residents. From the south Kerrier primary network who have coordinated the delivery of the vaccine on the mainland of Cornwall to nurse Karen Brown who did almost a 100-mile round trip including 2 flights in less than 24 hours, to the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group and all the other health, local authority, carers, and voluntary sector workers across agencies both on the islands and the mainland, who have stepped up to make it possible.” -Dr John Garman, from Helston Medical Centre We give special thanks to all our hard-working team who were involved in the process.

Delivering for Scilly

“To all the health work volunteers, with my thanks.

The hard work, selflessness, collaboration, innovation, and courage shown by so many across Cornwall during the COVID-19 pandemic has been truly inspirational.

It has emphasised once again the strength of our community spirit and made a real difference to people’s lives. As Her Majesty the Queen’s representative, I would like to thank you for the wonderful contribution you have made and are continuing to make to Cornwall during these extraordinary and challenging times.

Edward Bolitho, 28 October 2020”.

Poppies to Paddington Our values

RESPECT We were very proud and honoured to be asked to take part in the #PoppiesToPaddington tribute as part of a Remembrance Day service.

The first Poppy Wreath of The Veterans Charity departed the mainland to head to the Isles of Scilly on board Scillonian III. The wreath was presented by a Tri Service group of veterans to the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Colonel Edward Bolitho OBE, who then presented it to the Captain of Scillonian III for passage to the Isles of Scilly.

Community

Collaboration

Trust

Respect

Transparency

Not only have we helped Scilly with their vaccination rollout, at the start of the pandemic Island Carriers offered to deliver any medication free of charge to the most vulnerable members of the island community.

Although the service has only been needed and used a handful of times, a card was received from Edward Bolitho, representative of Her Majesty the Queen, with special thanks to the volunteers for their contribution.

Safety

EXCELLENCE

Excellence

Our values

People Focus

A special thank you.

Seal Pup Rescue Our values

SAFETY

Flowers make up a large proportion of air freight and are an important part of the Scilly economy. The Gulf Stream flowing around the islands creates a sub-tropical climate which means scented blooms are grown yearround and sent first class all over the UK. However, in November, Skybus carried two very unusual passengers when two seal pups were flown to the mainland for veterinary treatment, and in December a poorly seal pup was transported on the Gry Maritha.

After some heavy storms, the 3-week-old seal pup was separated from his mother and found washed up on Porthcressa beach. The seal pup, who like all pups who had ended up in the sanctuary last year, was named after a sea captain- Cloudesley Shovell. After his journey on the Gry Maritha sunbathing on the deck and arriving safely at the Gweek seal sanctuary, he received some TLC and was treated for his hypothermia and chest infection. Once the rescued seal pups have been treated and are healthy, they are released back into the wild.

The veterans saw the Scillonian III safely pass the Penzance war memorial as she headed to the Isles of Scilly to visit their local war memorial and veterans community, before being returned via Skybus the following weekend. Royal Air Force veteran, and oldest veteran on the Isles of Scilly, “Smudge” handed the wreath to one of our Skybus captains, also supported

by Devon & Cornwall Police. The Remembrance Day service was then broadcast live on the GWR Facebook page.

12 11

Collaboration We’re not the only ones who have Scilly’s best interests at heart. Often we can work more effectively by teaming up.

Community We look after the world around us. We do what we can to reduce any harm our work causes to the planet.

Safety Keeping our team, passengers and environment safe is more important than anything

Delivering for Scilly

Supporting Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust & helping clean up the islands

Helping clean up the islands

Donations to Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust

Over the last few years, we have been working closely with the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and it is great news that in January we saw them successfully embarking on a partnership with Keep Britain Tidy’s Ocean Recovery Project.

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust is Scilly’s only locally-run, conservation charity responsible for looking after more than 50% of the Islands; championing, valuing and managing Scilly’s landscapes for the benefit of nature and people, both now and for future generations.

The aim of the partnership is to recycle all the rigid plastic gathered, from Scilly’s coastline, during Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust facilitated beach cleans.

The Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust collects, sorts and logs the assortment of beachclean waste which is, where possible, salvaged and re-purposed by enterprising Islanders; old fish boxes being transformed into flower beds; “ghost” fishing gear starting a new life training runner beans in an allotment; other finds being turned into creative works of art. Anything that then cannot be re-purposed by the islanders is either recycled where possible or transported by us before being collected by the Ocean Recovery Project.

We are pleased to play our part assisting with this project by transporting collected waste back to Penzance on the Gry Maritha.

Stuart Reid: “We are proud to actively support the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust and the vital work its team does to help protect and care for Scilly’s natural environment, for the benefit and enjoyment of everyone visiting the islands. Helping to transport and ship the collected plastics away from the islands is just one of the practical ways we are able to help the Trust in its work, and to support the Ocean Recovery Project to keep our waters clean.”

The first batch of plastics, totalling a huge 1100kg (just over 1 tonne) has now been collected from Penzance Quay, by the Ocean Recovery Project, where it will begin the next stage of its journey; no longer posing a hazard to wildlife in and around Scilly’s seas. The Scilly beach plastics will eventually be sent to Chesney Orme at Chestnut Polymers Ltd where they will convert this waste plastic into useful end products which can replace wood, concrete & steel.

Over the years we have been collecting charitable donations from our passengers in support of IOSWT. Last year our passengers helped us beat our previous year’s total by over £3,000 with the below amounts being raised over the last two years.

2019 £13,570 Raised 2020 £16,690 Raised

www.ios-wildlifetrust.org.uk

This endeavour wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group.

Nikki Banfield, Communications Officer for the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust concluded: “This endeavour wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group. They have transported and shipped the marine plastics out of the Islands, again at no cost to us, making this a real community effort and a fine example of what working in partnership can achieve”.

All images courtesy of BareFoot Photographer & IoS WT

13

Collaboration

Going above and beyond to deliver flowers from Scilly

Mother’s Day is one of the busiest times of year for flower growers on the Isles of Scilly, the heady scented Narcissi flowers are iconic to the islands and very popular among Isles of Scilly visitors, so around celebrations like Mother’s Day, our freight team are incredibly busy working hard to make sure they are all shipped in time for the important day. The ‘Gry Maritha’ sailing calendar has March 9th and 11th circled as two crucial sailing dates due to the volume of flowers that need shipping.

Delivering for Scilly

Poor weather forecasts indicated the likelihood of disruption to the freight connections between the mainland and Isles of Scilly for the week leading up to March 14th. One of the flower growers on the islands contacted our Freight Manager, Eldred Banfield, with concerns about the forecast. When news came through that the sea state would mean that the Gry Maritha’s sailing had to be cancelled on March 10th and 11th, the freight team rallied together knowing how important this time of year is to local businesses and came

up with a plan. Gry Maritha Captain, Paul Stevens, suggested that the sailing on Tuesday 9th March was delayed leaving the islands, allowing the growers more time to get their produce to St. Mary’s and loaded for departure.

The latest possible departure from St. Mary’s was 10pm due to the tides and deteriorating weather conditions in Penzance. With flowers coming from across the islands, the Gry Maritha’s sailing wasn’t the only hurdle; our inter-island freight

vessel, ‘Lyonesse Lady’, latest time to get to St. Martin’s and collect the largest shipment of flowers was at 6pm. Beyond this collection, the ‘Swift Lady’ would be able to collect shipments but only by loading two pallets at a time.

Collectively the flower growers and freight team pulled out all the stops to ensure their flowers were packed, palletised and delivered to the quay in time. Everyone involved worked tirelessly, with brilliant and effective communication throughout, to

ensure they met the timescale.

Lyonesse Lady made her final trip at 6pm to bring back the last 10 pallets of flowers to St. Mary’s, Island Carriers made many trips to growers on St. Mary’s to collect and deliver lorry loads of palleted flowers to the quay.

There was such a huge volume of flowers to be transported to the mainland, meaning the freezers on Gry Maritha were changed over to chillers to allow for extra capacity of flowers. Having the chillers ensures

the flower buds do not open too early and that they are preserved for transport. By the end of the evening on Tuesday 8th March, the team had loaded over 50 pallets of flowers.

Gry Maritha was able to depart St. Mary’s earlier than planned and all the flowers were unloaded on Wednesday morning on Penzance quay, ready for their next journey in time for Mother’s Day.

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New Vessel Replacement In 2020, we held our 100th Steamship Group AGM, this was conducted virtually from the Steamship Office on St Mary’s which allowed us to communicate with our shareholders on our financial position and future plans for our vessel replacement project. Like our AGM, the vessel replacement programme has adapted to meet the challenges and continue the work of vessel replacement.

Our Marine Asset Replacement Committee and our ISSG Project Team have continued working on the programme with meetings being carried out virtually.

We announced the appointment of BMT back in 2020 following an extensive tendering process. BMT have worked closely with the ISSG project team throughout this process. Representatives of BMT spent considerable time in Penzance and St Mary’s as well as on-board our existing vessels, understanding the challenges of the route and berthing at both harbours.

In August 2020, we released an 8-week consultation programme. The consultation programme consisted of an interactive 50 question survey. The survey collected data on all aspects of the passenger and freight services and looked to answer the question “What is the future service requirements of the Isles of Scilly community?”

The survey responses provided excellent data which has been fed into BMT and has allowed the project team to make decisions. The highlight results of the survey were: Future freight service - What is important to the Island community?

Resilience - Respondents stated that the ability to reliably and safely send freight is essential Reliability - Most respondents (62%) value the reliability and value provided by the Gry Maritha and her crew.

Delivering for Scilly

A two-ship solution

Propulsion

A two-ship solution will provide additional resilience that the Islands can continue to be served during periods of maintenance. A single combined passenger and cargo ship has therefore been discounted as a solution.

The Government has committed to a target of decarbonisation of the marine sector by 2050. We are currently discussing propulsion systems with our naval architects which will work with the challenges of the route between Penzance and the Isles of Scilly. The difficulty we have is the speed in which this green propulsion technology is developing. We are working with our naval architects on a greener more efficient model but with the ability to modify and adapt the chosen propulsion system to ensure that we meet not just the targets for Government, but we aspire to minimise environmental impact at the earliest opportunity.

Passenger & cargo Our design optioneering work is looking at the regulations and build costs of combining passengers and cargo which will provide additional passenger resilience.

Passenger vessels are considerably more expensive both to construct and to operate due to the additional safety enhancements required as set by the regulation.

Design optioneering It is important as a Company that we challenge ourselves to include a range of vessel designs to determine if they can work and ultimately enhance the excellent cargo and passenger services that we operate today.

How are we going finance these vessels?

to

Receiving the general arrangements is an important part of this process as it will allow us to work with shipyards to obtain build costs and timescales. Based on our previous work on vessel replacement Government support will be required to support this project. Through the Isles of Scilly Transport Board we are working with UK Government officials on this process and they are being kept informed of the progress we are making with vessel designs and consultation work. Our next update will take place in early April when we anticipate receiving the first designs of vessels from BMT.

We are working on a project plan to receive the general arrangement of the new vessels. We have started early discussions with shipyards to sound out possible build programmes.

As an example of the work being undertaken, we have held early discussions with Appledore Shipyard.

Representatives of Appledore have visited Penzance and they inspected the Gry Maritha. Since that visit to Penzance, representatives of the Steamship Group have been to Appledore and inspected the facility.

We will be conducting visits to other yards as part of this extensive vessel replacement programme to ensure we select the yard which will deliver for this important service.

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100 YEARS Our illustrated book to celebrate 100 years of service to the Isles of Scilly is now available

One Hundred Years of The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group - Our special illustrated book As part of our 100 year celebrations last year, we had been working with Sue Lewington, a freelance illustrator living in west Cornwall, to create a special centenary illustrated book.

Sue specialises in ink and watercolour sketches and had lived and ran a gallery on St. Martin’s for nearly 20 years before moving to west Penwith. Sue has a deep affinity with the islands Delivering for and Scillyregularly returns to

Scilly and to the Shetland islands in Scotland.

Sue has worked on a series of beautiful watercolour paintings illustrating and telling a story of different areas of the company.

Titled ‘One Hundred Years’ the book celebrates our 100 years of service to the Isles of Scilly and connecting people to the islands.

NOW AVAILABLE To order call: 01736 334220 £15 + £3.50 P&P