A REPORT into Shetland's inter-island ferries, which revealed a

catalogue of safety and management problems, was kept secret by the

islands council for 18 months for fear it would mean closing down the

vital services.

The report has only now been made public because of increasing concern

about changes being made to the operating of the ferries.

The report was commissioned by the council in 1992 to assist in the

transfer of control of the ferries from the roads and transport

department to the marine operations department.

It revealed serious management problems, which had led to

''unsatisfactory and substandard practices''. There was ''an accident

waiting to happen'', the report said.

The authors said their inspection of the vessels and their operation

showed that ''only the barest regard was being paid to safety and once

again management must take the blame for not implementing procedures,

training, and drills to ensure that safety is given the highest

priority''.

Many of the piers were also considered to require urgent repair work.

The 89-page report produced 34 recommendations to improve the service.

The chairman of the marine operations committee, Ms Andrea Manson,

said that over the last 18 months marine operations staff had worked

hard to bring the service up to standard.

''Much of what is in the report has been fixed or is being sorted

out,'' she said. ''There are bits in this report that, had it been

published 18 months ago, the ferries would have had to have stopped

running.

''So it was a simple case of fix it as fast as possible. It's still

not sorted out but it's no longer a dangerous operation.''

Ms Manson said the department had come in for ''tremendous'' criticism

lately, particularly after safe weather parameters were established.

This has meant ferries have not been able to operate on many occasions

recently, where they would have in the past.

The service had been neglected for the past 20 years, she said.

However, they were now working to bring it up to standard.