Council blasts island ferry delays

Western Isles Council has blasted ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne for “poor service” after the company’s largest ferry broke down and will be out of service until “at least” the end of April.

The loss of the sevenyear-old MV Loch Seaforth, which was built in Germany at a cost of £42 million, comes as island tourism businesses were looking forward to the easing of lockdown.

It is now calling on CalMac to compensate affected firms.

A major technical issue prevented the Stornoway to Ullapool ferry from sailing yesterday.

The ship’s freight run has also been cancelled.

“The Loch Seaforth is currently in Ullapool awaiting repairs. This is the latest of a number of issues which have affected the service and therefore prevented island businesses from essential travel,” said a spokesman for Western Isles Council.

The council’s chairman of transportation and infrastructure Uisdean Robertson said not enough is being done to address the “unacceptable” ferry service recently faced by the islands.

Robert Morrison, operations director for CalMac, said: “We appreciate the importance of the passenger and freight service on this route and apologise for the inconvenience this will cause. Please be assured that we are doing our utmost to find solutions to get the service back to normal.

“We are working closely with the vessel owners CMAL and Transport Scotland to find ways to continue the freight and passenger service between Stornoway and Ullapool. Customers wishing to travel today are being diverted on alternative routes.”