Mull ferry disgrace
The decision by CMAL not to proceed with the purchase of the vessel currently nearing completion identified by the Mull and Iona Ferry committee (MIFC) is not only unfortunate but disgraceful.
The so-called explanations given in the excellent coverage by the Oban Times were both facile and platitudinous and did not even have a ring of truth. The contempt for the efforts of MIFC and others was only exceeded by the extraordinary claim that they knew best and suggesting that their expertise exceeded that of Strathclyde Naval Architecture Department, whose report concluded that the vessel was eminently suitable, could be made to comply with MCA regulations with ease and for a modest sum, and was, indeed, a far more safe vessel than any in the CMAL fleet.
The arrogance is breathtaking. This from an organisation condemned by a parliamentary report last year as lacking competence and, indeed, relevance; that has presided over the FMEL contract fiasco; one that intends, apparently, to continue with a policy of ever larger mono hull ferries contrary to the requests of islanders, an organisation which, though it almost chartered Pentalina, ignores the success of Pentland Ferries with Pentalina and, more recently, Alfred, vessels, fully compliant with our regulations and almost identical to that sourced by MIFC.
Ironically, as Roy Pedersen has pointed out, CMAL does not suffer from underfunding, the problem is what they do with our money. They will intend to replace the Isle of Mull with an even larger vessel at a cost of some four or five times the cost of the MIFC-sourced vessel and the lead time will be of the order of five years.
The methods used by CMAL, as reported in the Oban Times, to make it impossible for the purchase to go ahead indicate that there was never a serious commitment to facilitate this purchase. That Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government continue to treat CMAL with any credibility beggars belief given their track record and it appears that they will continue to spend our money with profligacy.
The parliamentary enquiry, which ran to 129 pages has, sadly, been a waste of time and effort on the part of the 11 parliamentarians. What sort of government, whose record on procurement has been abysmal, is this where they commission an enquiry and kick it into the long grass as Mr Wheelhouse said he will do within days of the release. There are no grounds for optimism.
J Patrick Maclean, Oban.