One hundred and sixty minutes: that is what Shetland Islands Council allows for the run between Grutness and Fair Isle, and no other crossing on its inter-island network takes as long. Foula needs 120. Bressay needs seven.
Council inter-island timetable for Bressay, Whalsay, Skerries, Papa Stour, Fair Isle and Foula, read on 22 September 2026. Treat the dating with care — see the note below. Shetland Islands Council — inter-island ferry timetable (Fair Isle block) · 2026-09-22
One hundred and sixty minutes is the council's own figure, printed in the journey-times table beside Foula's 120 and Bressay's seven. It is the longest passage on the Shetland Islands Council network, and if the ship is routed to Lerwick instead it becomes 300 minutes. Everything about how this service works follows from that number: one boat, one crew, a handful of sailings a week, and a booking office that decides whether any of them happens.
The ship is the MV Good Shepherd IV, built by J W Miller & Sons at St Monans in Fife in 1986 and on this crossing ever since. She is operated by Shetland Islands Council directly — this is not a CalMac route and there is no Transport Scotland contract behind it — and she is the island's supply line as well as its passenger service. Council network or CalMac is the first thing to settle about a Scottish ferry route.
The pattern is thin and seasonal. Tuesday runs all year round. Thursday and Saturday are added from May to September, and on alternate Thursdays within that season the boat goes to Lerwick rather than Grutness. Outside the summer months, Fair Isle has one scheduled sailing a week.
Fair Isle and Foula are priced differently from the rest of the Shetland network. On the short routes the council charges a return, payable outbound. Here the fares are singles, payable in both directions, so double every figure below for a round trip.
The gap between the two adult rates is the striking part: an islander pays £2.80 to cross, a visitor £19.50. Over-60s holding an SIC Pass and everyone up to the age of 19 pay 40 pence, and holders of a disabled concessionary SIC Pass travel free.
| Adult, not resident on Fair Isle | £ 19.50 |
| Adult, Fair Isle resident | £ 2.80 |
| Over 60 with SIC Pass, and children up to 19 | £ 0.40 |
| Disabled concessionary SIC Pass holder | Free |
| Adult 20-journey ticket | £ 56 |
| Over 60 with SIC Pass / children, 20-journey ticket | £ 8 |
| Vehicle up to 5.50 m | £ 8.50 |
| Motorcycle | £ 17.50 |
| Trailer under 3.5 m | £ 8 |
| Trailer 3.5 to 5.5 m | £ 11.50 |
| Trailer over 5.5 m | £ 15.50 |
Shetland Islands Council fare table 2026/2027, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 Shetland Islands Council — Domestic Ferry Fares · 2026-09-22
Measured between the two positions on this page, Grutness and North Haven lie 41.5 kilometres apart — a shade over 22 nautical miles. The council allows 160 minutes for it, which tells you more about the water in between than any adjective would: this is open sea between the North Atlantic and the North Sea, not a sheltered sound.
Grutness is a pier at the southern tip of Shetland Mainland, close to Sumburgh. It was shut for most of 2025 while the council extended it for the new ship, and the February 2026 briefing to councillors records that sailings returned to Grutness in December and that the remaining works — chiefly rock armour around the new breakwater, held up again and again by weather that kept the contractor's barge away — were expected to finish at the beginning of April 2026. The coordinates here are the Ordnance Survey point for the settlement, not the pier head; the council does not publish one for the berth.
North Haven is the island end, and it is a building site of its own. Season two of the harbour works began in February 2026 with the removal of the old winch and the demolition of its winch house, excavation at the Noust, foundations for a new slipway and rock netting. These coordinates come from the marine licence the Scottish Ministers granted the council for those works — 59° 32.312′ N, 001° 36.209′ W — which is about as official as a position for this harbour gets.
Every sailing is bookings only, and the asterisk in the council's timetable means the boat does not move without one. Fair Isle bookings go through 01595 760363; the general office is 01595 745804, open 07:45 to 18:00 daily.
The council runs a recorded line per route for day-of-travel status. Fair Isle's number is 01595 743978, and during the pier works it was the channel the council told passengers to use for extra sailings added at short notice.
Tuesday runs all year; Thursday and Saturday exist only from May to September. On an October to April trip the whole itinerary hangs on one sailing, so build slack into it. Nothing else on the same network runs this thin: Bluemull Sound to Unst manages twenty-eight sailings in each direction on a weekday.
The boat leaves Fair Isle at 07:30 and comes back from Grutness at 11:30. That gives an islander a few hours on the Mainland; it gives a visitor arriving from Grutness no return the same day.
MV Good Shepherd V, a 24-metre monohull, is being built by Parkol Marine Engineering at Whitby on a £5.6M contract. In February 2026 the council reported handover scheduled for late October 2026.
The council's case for replacement turns on removing the restrictions of weight-limited, crane-based cargo handling. Until the new vessel and its linkspans arrive, heavy loads mean chartering rather than driving aboard.
Both ends of the route are being rebuilt around a ship that is due to be replaced. At Grutness the council extended the pier and dredged a deeper berth; the work shut the harbour for much of 2025, pushed the whole service on to Lerwick — two runs a week, bookings only — and stopped goods for the island being dropped at the Grutness store. Sailings came back in December 2025. At North Haven on Fair Isle, a new slipway, winch house and boat cradle are still going in.
What comes next is Good Shepherd V, the fifth of the name: a faster monohull coded as a workboat, which caps passengers at twelve but lets a sailing be squeezed into a shorter weather window — the argument being that more of the timetable would actually be kept. Roll-on/roll-off replaces the crane, and a linkspan at each end gives step-free boarding for the first time here.
No. Every Fair Isle sailing is bookings only, and the council's key to symbols states plainly that the sailing takes place only if a booking has been made before the booking office closes, or by 18:00 for online bookings. Ring 01595 760363 for Fair Isle specifically, or the booking office on 01595 745804 between 07:45 and 18:00.
The council runs an alternative Lerwick service on alternate Thursdays from May to September. On those days the departure from Fair Isle is 07:00 rather than 07:30, the return leaves Lerwick at 14:00, and the allowance is 300 minutes instead of 160. It became the only option altogether while Grutness was closed for the pier works in 2025.
£19.50 as an adult, each way — these are single fares payable in both directions, so a return visit is £39.00. A Fair Isle resident pays £2.80. Over-60s with an SIC Pass and anyone up to 19 pay 40p, and disabled concessionary pass holders travel free. A 20-journey adult ticket is £56.00.
There is a fare — £8.50 for a vehicle up to 5.50 metres, driver included, and £17.50 for a motorcycle — but the council's own business case describes the current handling as weight-limited and crane-based, and lists roll-on/roll-off as something the replacement vessel will introduce. In other words, a vehicle is lifted rather than driven aboard. Agree it with the booking office before you count on it.
Yes. The council told councillors in February 2026 that ferry services returned to Grutness in December, after the harbour had been closed through much of 2025 for a pier extension, dredging and a new breakwater. The remaining work — mostly rock armour that weather kept delaying — was then expected to finish at the beginning of April 2026.
MV Good Shepherd V is under construction at Parkol Marine Engineering in Whitby, a 24-metre monohull on a £5.6M contract. The February 2026 update had steel fabrication finishing in May, outfitting running to October, and sea trials and handover scheduled for late October 2026. Orkney is doing the same sum on a larger scale, with its Westray run first in the queue for three new monohulls.
Not on this timetable. The boat leaves Fair Isle at 07:30 and returns from Grutness at 11:30, which suits an islander coming to the Mainland for a few hours but leaves a visitor from Grutness with no way back until the next sailing day — the following week, if you are travelling in winter.
Use the Fair Isle voicebank on 01595 743978. The council keeps a recorded line for each route; during the Grutness works it was the channel it named for extra sailings arranged at short notice.