No Easter ferry back-up but hope for April improvement
Arran has run out of time to get extra ferry capacity over the Easter holidays as schools stopped today (Friday) for their spring holiday.
CalMac says it simply has no spare ferries to provide backup to the MV Isle of Arran which has only half the capacity of the regular ferry, the MV Caledonian Isles, which has had her return from annual service delayed several times.
As a result islanders and visitors have had ferry bookings cancelled, leading to a knockon effect for island tourist businesses over Easter.
CalMac chief executive Robbie Drummond has again apologised to individuals and businesses affected by the disruption.
He 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.”
There is hope that the situation will improve by mid-April with CalMac this week confirming that the MV Caledonian Isles is due back in service on the Ardrossan to Brodick route on Thursday April 13 and that the two-vessel summer timetable with the MV Isle of Arran will start on Friday May 5.
In the meantime a shuttle service is running from Lochranza to Claonaig to provide additional support.
And the MV Alfred, which as reported in last week’s Banner, has been hired for nine months from Pentland Ferries by the Scottish government for £9 million, will be delivered to CalMac on Tuesday April 18, but will have to undergo sea trials before it is deployed.
Where that will be deployed has yet to be decided but the main Arran route is considered a possibility, as there are limitations to the ports where it could operate.
Brodick, which has previously berthed her slightly smaller sister ship MV Pentalina, is thought to be suitable and the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee will be included in any discussions about her deployment on the route.
The ferry committee has been continuing to work behind the scenes to try to alleviate the ferry crisis Arran is facing by talking to Scottish ministers, Transport Scotland and CalMac.
They say Arran is one of the few islands which has the statistics to quantify the losses suffered by the island economy because of the ongoing disruption.
Mr Drummond said this week: “The primary focus for the use of MV Alfred will be to have her available for resilience purposes and provide relief benefits across the network.
“This should help mitigate the impact of disruption or where certain islands are reduced to single vessel service.
“Although resilience availability will remain the priority, there may be opportunities to facilitate some additional, non-bookable freight sailings, when possible, to support capacity constraints.”
Meanwhile a coalition of hauliers on the west coast islands, including Arran, are said to be taking legal advice in a row over a ferry user priority list brought in by CalMac for commercial traffic, according to the The Herald newspaper.
The concerns are around general commercial traffic that block-books on the ferries, which according to the document “does not have any priority over that of non-block booked traffic”.
Hauliers say that means that bookings can be removed to be given to other people in the midst of service disruptions.
A group of nine key hauliers have formed a group consisting of CalMac commercial customers across the west coast ferry services network to work collectively to deal with what they described as “the many issues faced by us all due to an inadequate ferry service plagued with disruptions and lack of resilience and capacity”.
They say that as a result of the “deterioration of services” coupled with the priority list they are seeking legal advice over the lifeline service provision of CalMac and Transport Scotland.