The Council of the Isles of Scilly has helped arrange special flights with the Steamship Group to bring much needed supplies to the islands.
The first of 2 planned flights landed this morning, filled with essential groceries for the Co-op supermarket. The St Mary’s store has run out of fresh food items during the past week due to weather conditions disrupting freight deliveries. The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group agreed to fly the produce in at their normal shipping charge, absorbing the additional cost of moving the goods by air. The Council has also waived its landing and freight handling fees.
The deliveries will arrive at the Co-op within the next few hours.
The Steamship Group is still aiming to do a freight run by sea on Saturday 16 March, however, continued bad weather may prevent this until early next week. The Council will be constantly monitoring the situation over the next few days and staying in regular contact with emergency services and transport/retail partners.
Chairman of Council, Robert Francis, said: “We’re pleased that the Steamship Group has arranged to put on these special flights. The weather over the past week has unfortunately restricted sea operations to such an extent that food supplies on the islands are now critically low. I’d like to thank the Steamship Company for agreeing to bring groceries in by plane at a reduced charge and we’ll continue to work closely with them and other partners to ensure that islanders and visitors have the provisions they need.”
Supplies of other essential items, including pharmaceuticals, are being closely monitored, and there are no immediate concerns; however, the Council will not hesitate to take emergency action should this situation change.