‘Ghost town’ – the stark effect of no ferry on the Sound of Harris

The ongoing issues with the Loch Portain’s engines and lack of an available replacement vessel has meant that traffic has bypassed Leverburgh and Berneray, with an alternative service being introduced between Lochmaddy and Tarbert to retain some sort of inter-island connection.

A vehicle service was introduced on the Sound of Harris 40 years ago, having been passenger-only before that, which enabled a number of businesses to develop, focussing on hospitality and the passing tourist trade.

But 2026 has been disastrous, with the service being withdrawn altogether, due to the ongoing technical problems with the Loch Portain and the normal replacement vessel, the smaller Loch Bhrusda, required elsewhere in the network.

Abby Nicolson of the Berneray Bistro and Shop said: “There's no through traffic at all. That’s what we are missing: workers passing through and nipping in; there’s none of that.

“The shop is really quiet with no one coming in for morning coffees. There’s still people coming just to go to the Bistro, but there is no through traffic and we are missing it. It is a lot quieter than normal. Yesterday was dead and today is dead too.

“For a few weeks in July, the ferry was taken off and they were just using the little passenger boat Paabay Lass. We have lost quite a lot of business. Pay has gone up, so turnover needs to be higher. When we get the Loch Bhrusda – if we get it – we only have one week before we close for the season. It’s a farce.”

For some businesses the busy tourist season is the jam on their bread and butter. Like Eilidh Carr who runs the small Coral Box gift shop based in Blackhill in Berneray.

“I open in March to the end of September, so it is mostly tourists and mostly the main summer trade,” she said. “When there's no ferry, or even when it goes to dry dock, that’s when we see it.

“Sometimes it’s busy and you think, oh, this is going well, and then the ferry goes off or the weather is bad, and then the next thing you're thinking: how are you going to get to the end of the season?

“This summer the numbers have been quite low. I think a lot of people have been put off, or they go back to the mainland early, and you're losing people and trade.

“It's quite a strange feeling on Berneray right now. It was like a ghost town today. There's some people around, but not like it would have been last year or the year before.”

Eilidh is one of the growing number of Island businesses looking for support from the Scottish Government’s Ferry Resilience Fund. But like many other small businesses she questions whether it's properly funded and questions how it will be distributed.

“I'm a small business compared to other ones, but it would help. It won’t be the same compensation that if everybody got here, and shopped with you – it probably doesn't match up the same as that at all – but it would help.

“I think this year there's a lot less than we had for the last fund and there's lots more islands included this time, so the amount is probably going to be watered right down. It doesn't seem like a solution at all.”

The stark drop in trade and early blustery autumn has Eilidh assessing her options. She is now considering closing the business early this year

“I'll just keep going another week, I think. But it's already quite quiet, so I could probably shut today, and it wouldn’t make too much of a difference.

“My season runs from March until the end of September, and then I open again for Christmas shopping. But I don't know how I feel about that. It's quite disheartening for you as a small business owner.

“We try so hard all year and do our own things, and then when something like this comes around, it's not even our fault.
I have written letters to Stephen Flynn, the Transport Secretary, and got a generic reply that told me less than I knew already. But a few other people like Donald McKinnon MSP have been helpful.”

The one-hour, nine nautical mile journey between Leverburgh and Berneray has proved over the last 40 years to be an economic lifeline for two fragile communities. But all that is now under threat.

The Isle of Harris Brewery overlooks the slipway in Leverburgh. One of the major employers in the area, the loss of ferry related business has hit them hard.

Owned by husband and wife Nick and Anna Helfrich, the business has been a welcome addition to Leverburgh offering signature ales, food and entertainment.

“On Friday, we had a two hour stint where we were completely empty, at a time when the slipway outside would normally be full,” said Nick. “Obviously not everybody would come in, but we'd have a good amount, so it's way, way down.”

While many are pinning their hopes on the Scottish Government's Ferry Resilience Fund, concerns remain about its substance and ability to mitigate the savage losses suffered by local businesses.

While Anna welcomes the opportunity to apply for compensation she fears it is a drop in the Sound of Harris in comparison with the tide of losses they have had to absorb.

She said they have applied “for the maximum we could from the resilience fund” and feels they have “a really good case for getting it”.

“We employ 17 people,” she said, which makes them “a big, big employer in the area. But even if we got the maximum amount, it would probably be about 10 days of our lost income and obviously, it's way, way more than that that we're down.”

A short drive from the pier down Ferry Road is “Co Chommun Na Hearadh”, the Clachan community shop which was established in 1979 after the original shop was in danger of closing.

Community owned and run for almost 50 years, it is often the first or last stop before the Sound of Harris and as a result has strong support and brisk trade. But it also has felt the economic pain caused by the ferry debacle.

Kenny Angie Macleod, general manager, spoke to the Gazette on Saturday, normally their busiest day of the week

“A real lack of traffic,” was how he summed up the situation. “The place has just got really quiet over the past couple of weeks. We were busy, sort of, half an hour before the ferry left and half an hour after it arrived with people stopping in for stuff. We are not seeing that passing trade anymore”

Kenny and the six other staff employed at the Clachan have not yet calculated how much of an impact there has been on trade but he says the drop off was steep and immediate.

“The first week we were down about 10% then about 15% back the following week,” he said. “I haven't done the figures since then, but certainly, it's slipping every week at the moment.

“And obviously, there was disruption in July, which is peak time. The damage is not just this week or last week, it’s the lasting damage that's going to be done.

“You know people come on holiday and they should be able to trust the ferries, especially the inter-island ones. We've lost a lot of money, because people are bypassing Leverburgh and Berneray and going through Tarbert and Lochmaddy. People would stop for fuel, sweets, a newspaper, or something like that. It certainly adds up, especially at this time of year.”

The Clachan has also registered its interest in the Ferry Resilience Fund. When asked if he thought this would replace their lost revenue he replied with resignation.

“No, I don't think so. We haven’t done the full figures yet but we are looking at months of lost trade, not days.”