New minister vows to resolve the ferry issues
Scotland’s new islands minister has said he is determined to resolve the situation which has led to widespread disruption on the Arran and Islay ferry services.
At Holyrood, Mike Russell MSP, Bill Calderwood of the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee, representatives of Isle of Islay Ferry Committee and Arran’s MSP Kenneth Gibson met with the minister for energy, connectivity and the islands, Paul Wheelhouse MSP, and Transport Scotland to discuss the ongoing problems of ferry reliability on both Arran and Islay.
Island communities rely on their lifeline ferry services and disruption is impacting on the quality of life for islanders, tourism, business, farming and the provision of public services.
On Arran, disruption has been widespread with waste collection, care provision, tourist bookings, and cargo shipments all affected. This creates great personal and economic difficulties.
Extra sailings
Possible solutions include an additional vessel in the fleet; a commitment that CalMac will not reduce services, e.g. even if they are a boat down, they should add extra sailings earlier and later where possible, with a trained relief crew to help meet demand.
On behalf of the government, Mr Wheelhouse, who has only been responsible for ferries for four weeks, acknowledged how serious the situation was and expressed a desire to deliver solutions. Repairs should be carried out more rapidly, with the time taken to source spare parts reduced.
However, Mr Gibson and Mr Russell raised concerns that the investment in improvements such as road equivalent tariff, additional ferries and the increased frequency of sailings was being undermined by poor reliability.
Action plan
It was agreed that the Scottish Government will bring forward an action plan to support CalMac to restore reliability and normal timetables after several mechanical breakdowns.
Mr Gibson said: ‘We had a frank and robust discussion. Mr Wheelhouse has only been in post a few weeks but he took on board all our concerns and expressed his determination to deliver in the short, medium and long-term for the people of Arran, Islay and indeed all our islands. The current difficulties have been intolerable and everyone agreed to work together to ensure they are resolved with the minimum chance of a recurrence.
‘Mike Russell and I will continue to liaise regularly and directly with Mr Wheelhouse and he readily agreed to come to Arran and meet with the ferry committee.’