Underinvestment in new ferries has knock-on effect

Sir,

Tucked away in Kenneth Gibson’s election manifesto is a promise to provide a ‘quality ferry service’.

During Mr Gibson’s 14 years in office we on Arran have suffered countless ferry cancellations due to mechanical faults on ships long past their normal service life spans.

We are all aware of the stress and hardship such cancellations can cause through missed hospital appointments and missed family and business commitments.

Now some very disturbing information has come to light in a national newspaper using Scottish government data.

It gives a detailed picture of all new vessels procured for Clyde and Hebrides routes since 1993.

In the first 14 years – pre-devolution and up to the 2007 elections – 12 ferries with a combined tonnage of 33,350 were launched.

In the following 14 years, with the SNP in power at Holyrood, only five ferries with a combined tonnage of 16,188 entered service.

Two of these account for most of the tonnage. They were built at yards in Poland and Germany, respectively.

The other three small boats were built at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow.

Under the SNP, the total tonnage more than halved and fleet replacement rates deteriorated even more spectacularly.

It was one new vessel every 14 months between 1993 and 2007.

In the SNP era, that rate of replacement has slowed to one every 33.6 months.

With an average design life of 25 years, since the SNP took over in 2007, the time it would take to replace the CalMac fleet has stretched to an astonishing 86.8 years.

In February, the government published its infrastructure investment plan to 2025/26. It includes £281 million of loans to CMAL for the procurement of more vessels.

Given that it’s costing a similar amount to complete the two unfinished Ferguson hulks years late, is that the kind of money needed to repair the consequences of the 14 years of underinvestment in new ferries?

Yours, John Sillars, Brodick.