Islands count cost of ferries fiasco

As CalMac’s fleet faces a range of breakdowns and issues, the economic impact is being felt

Islands are counting the growing economic cost of ferry disruption as drydock over-runs and faults stretch the fleet to its limit into the busy summer season, writes Sandy Neill

But CalMac hopes to ease the squeeze on space later this month with the return of three major vessels.

“With no spare vessels and limited deployment options, this is a very challenging period for our customers and the communities we serve,” acknowledged the state-owned ferry operator CalMac amidst a rejig on Thursday April 6.

More problems came on Tuesday, when CalMac’s biggest ship, the MV Loch Seaforth, with a capacity of 700 passengers, 140 cars or 20 commercial vehicles, was hit with a technical fault, cancelling sailings between Stornoway and Ullapool that day.

Before the latest setback, island ferry groups reported locals and visitors struggling to find space, and even being bumped off over-booked sailings. Many are now counting the losses and raising the question of compensation.

Space is being squeezed on the ferry to Islay (and Jura).

The Islay and Jura Tourism and Marketing Group, “the voice of tourism at a local and national level”, is also “collecting data to quantify, in monetary terms, how much tourism business is being lost as a result of lack of ferry spaces/inability to book or plan/ cancelled bookings”.

The two islands, with a population of more than 3,000, had a single vessel service on the MV Finlaggan extended into the last two months of the winter timetable.

The summer timetable, which started on March 31, was due to be a two-vessel service, the MV Finlaggan and MV Hebridean Isles, providing 66 sailings per week.

But the 38-year-old “Heb Isles”, one of the CalMac fleet’s oldest vessels, is still being fixed in Birkenhead.

The MV Finlaggan on its own provides only 38 sailings a week.

“We are hearing of people who cannot get vehicle bookings for nearly three weeks ahead,” Islay Community Council Ferry Committee said at the beginning of April.

A CalMac update on Friday

April 7 said Finlaggan’s single vessel timetable will continue up to tomorrow (April 15), when it will be joined by the Isle of Arran until Tuesday May 2, when the Finlaggan heads to dry dock.

The MV Hebridean Isles and MV Isle of Arran will run together from Wednesday May 3 to Friday May 26, when the MV Finlaggan is due to return.

Also, when CalMac published its summer 2023 timetable in January and took bookings, it was expecting more capacity in April and May. As a result, some sailings were over-booked. At times, CalMac closed bookings while it made transfers.

CalMac drew up plans to prioritise essential travel/ lifeline goods and services on overbooked sailings, contacting other customers to offer alternative options.

CalMac deployed its priority list again on Tuesday, when MV Loch Seaforth failed.

“This service will be prioritising freight including food, medical supplies, animal feed and time sensitive loads. Any remaining space will then be offered to general traffic,” CalMac said.

Its chief executive Robbie Drummond said: “I am sorry for the current strain that is impacting on all users of the service. We are doing everything we possibly can to resolve the current difficulties as quickly as possible.

“Over the next few weeks, MV Hebridean Isles, MV Clansman and MV Caledonian Isles should return to service. In addition, MV Alfred will join the fleet on a nine-month charter starting on April 18.”

‘We are hearing of people who cannot get vehicle bookings for nearly three weeks ahead.’