German company revealed as third bidder for Northern Isles ferry tender

INTERNATIONAL ferry company FRS Group have been revealed as the third bidder for the Northern Isles ferry service.

The company, headquartered in Flensburg, Germany, confirmed the news this week.

In a very short statement to The Orcadian, company spokesperson Birte Dettmers said:
“FRS follows the tender process. But please understand that we will not disclose any further information on this tender at this time.”

It was last month that the Scottish Government stated that an invitation to tender for the next contract to run the Northern Isles ferry services had been issued to three bidders.

The names of the companies involved were not released by the government, however Serco NorthLink and Calmac did confirm their involvement.

When asked last month, previous bidder Streamline confirmed that it was not one of the bidders on this occasion, leading to speculation over the final company involved.

Submission of final tenders is scheduled for March, with a view to awarding the contract in July, said the Scottish Government. The contract is estimated to be worth £370m, and will run for eight years.

FRS Group runs ferry services throughout many areas of the world, including Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and North America.

The organisation is also involved in maritime consultancy and offshore logistics.

According to the company, FRS has grown from a regional passenger ferry operator into an internationally active group with 64 vessels and more than 1,500 employees from more than a dozen countries all over the world.

FRS annually carries 7.9 million passengers and 2.1 million vehicles on its numerous national and international shipping lines.