CalMac boss warns of choppy waters ahead
CALMAC’S new interim managing director has forecast a testing summer season for the ferry operator’s ageing fleet.
Robbie Drummond made his prediction just prior to the Easter weekend, when CalMac’s ferry routes suffered widespread disruption due to the weather.
On the first weekend of CalMac’s summer timetable high winds affected sailings of the Arran to Ardrossan ferry, which was suspended early on Monday afternoon.
Other routes were also suspended, causing inconvenience to thousands of Easter break holidaymakers.
Mr Drummond said CalMac was facing its busiest summer season on record.
‘We ask a lot of our fleet, and indeed our people, at the busiest time of year on our network,’ he said.
Anticipating
‘I know everyone here is ready and eagerly anticipating another successful summer season, but I am also very conscious of the workload our boats will be undertaking and the strain that puts them under, particularly the older vessels in the fleet, eight of which are more than 30 years old now.’
The peak tourist period is always a test for the 32 ferries that serve 51 ports on 49 routes. During 2017, CalMac carried more than five million passengers, nearly 1.5 million cars and 80,000 coaches.
Mr Drummond warned of ‘issues on some routes’ over the peak time.
‘CalMac is investing in new ferries, with the Glen Sannox, launched in November, one of two new ferries that will join our fleet in the future,’ he said.
‘Until then, we will, of course, proactively manage as best we can with the current fleet, but I fear that it will, at times, cause issues on some of our routes.’
The average age of the ferries is just under 22 years old and CalMac’s fleet will be stretched to its full capacity over the summer months.
Any issues with a vessel on one part of the network will have knock-on effects for other routes, as boats need to be diverted elsewhere to keep the network running.
The risk of mechanical failures and breakdown is also significant. It takes longer to get older boats back into service when things do go wrong, often due to the difficulty in sourcing parts.