However, and as part of the contractual amendments made to enable the early termination of the contract between the Scottish ministers and NorthLink and the start of the proposed new contract with another operator, an early termination agreement made on 27 September 2004 provides that the end date for each charter shall be the date, to be set by the Scottish ministers in due course, for the end NorthLink’s contract for the provision of the Northern Isles ferry service.Those contractual amendments also ensure that the three ro-ro vessels can be made available to the incoming operator from the start of the new contract currently being tendered.