Islanders hit out at Calmac after axed services cut trade by a third
ISLAND businesses have condemned ferry operator Caledonian Macbrayne after losing more than one-third of their trade over Easter weekend as services were cancelled and redeployed due to the ageing fleet of vessels.
The start of the summer timetable was hit by severe disruption as the operator was forced to move ferries around the network to make up a shortfall in available ships.
Some fragile island communities suffered an estimated loss of 36 per cent of expected trade due to the vessel redeployment and comes as Calmac warns of breakdowns and delays over the vital summer tourist season due to its increasingly ageing fleet.
The average age of ferries serving Calmac’s lifeline routes is almost 22 years.
A major tourist route from Mallaig to Armadale on Skye has had its dedicated ferry withdrawn completely so it can fill gaps on the busier Oban to Mull service.
But according to local firms on the Sleat peninsula on Skye, replacement ferries have been unsuitable and inadequate and the constant disruption has cost them thousands of pounds in lost revenue already.
They have now met local MSP Kate Forbes and asked that she raise the matter urgently with both the Government and Calmac or they will face a severe economic downturn from lost tourist trade.
A spokesman for Sleat Transport Forum said: “This continuing uncertainty, ongoing since the removal of the dedicated vessel in 2015 and the deployment of inadequate vessels since then, has led to a significant downturn in business in this area which is heavily dependent on tourism.
“Those who have invested in the high quality businesses which Sleat enjoys on the expectation of an efficient ferry service, are alarmed and disappointed at the continuing deterioration of the service.
“There also appears to be a lack of understanding among senior Calmac management of the scale of the problems for the communities concerned and how these can be adequately resolved.”
It comes amid concerns a 10-fold increase in traffic is already causing severe problems for island communities.
Last year, Calmac carried more than five million passengers, nearly 1.5 million cars, some 80,000 coaches, and just under one million metres of commercial traffic.
The huge rise in tourists follows the introduction of a Scottish Government scheme to make island ferry fares more affordable.
The Road Equivalent Tariff was introduced to boost remote economies – and worked so well the number of cars on one route is up by more than 80 per cent. But the rise brought severe disruption last year and island communities are already braced for further delay.
Calmac has already redeployed bigger vessels to busy routes such as Uig to Harris and North Uist and Oban to Coll/tiree and Colonsay.
A bigger ferry has also been moved to serve the daily Oban to Lochboisdale on South Uist.
But the knock-on effect has seen other services cancelled or run at a reduced capacity which is hitting local businesses hard.
Calmac’s head of operations (north) Robert Morrison, said: “The pressure on our services during this busy holiday period and the fact that we are a major vessel down, means we have had to tweak our services again to try and meet demand as best we can within the resources we are currently operating.”