Tarbert asks: Where has our ferry gone?
The ferry service across Loch Fyne between Portavadie and Tarbert was cancelled over the Easter weekend, stranding tourists, and leaving residents wondering where their boat had gone.
The operator CalMac was forced to suspend mainland services linking the Cowal and Kintyre peninsulas for five days until Tuesday, as the dedicated ferry, MV Isle of Cumbrae, was re-deployed to support an island service.
A CalMac update said: “The vessel previously operating this route has been redeployed elsewhere on the network to provide additional capacity where no other transport options are available.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused as a result. Normal service is expected to resume on Wednesday April 12.” People hit by the cancellation between Friday April 7 to Tuesday April 11 took to social media. “No ferry service for Easter now,” said one.
“Tarbert-Portavadie is not classed as a lifeline service because you can drive around when there is no ferry,” said another. The distance between Tarbert and Portavadie is four miles by water, and 86 miles by road around the longest sea loch in Scotland.
“It’s impacted my business badly,” said a worker. “A road that takes literally hours to drive round, takes me in my van approximately six hours round trip, on top of a full day climbing masts. There’s a ferry for a reason.
“If we knew it was going to be a week or 10 days off, and there was a foot ferry running back and forth then I could manage, but this dribbling cancellations day by day is just impossible.”
As drydock over-runs and faults in CalMac’s ageing fleet continue into the busy summer timetable, the stateowned operator has set up a crisis management centre to keep lifeline travel flowing around the network.
“Bottom line is it’s not here at a busy time, wherever it is,” concluded one local. “Tarbert is now dependent on tourism. The West Coast needs a different approach, with the population dwindling and dependent on tourism.”
“I’ve just had a couple who are cycling,” said another. “Got a place booked on the other side. No budget to stay here. Devastated.”
Many hunted for their ferry. “Tarbert ferry is round at Colintraive replacing MV Loch Dunvegan ferry which has technical issues,” disclosed one on Thursday.
“The Portavadie-Tarbert ferry is currently doing the Largs-Cumbrae run. Dunvegan is back in service somehow,” revealed another on Sunday.
A local summed up: “Now that the Colintraive ferry is back in service, they sent MV Isle of Cumbrae to Largs to do extra sailings, instead of sending it back to Tarbert to do the Easter weekend.”
“Leaving us with no service,” remarked another.