CalMac sends call out for emergency ferry
Frustrated islanders back MV Pentalina as a replacement – despite safety concerns
CALMAC has requested to lease an emergency vessel to alleviate the crisis on the ferry network despite the same ship being rejected last year due to safety concerns.
The state-run ferry operator has confirmed that it has asked for a lease of Pentland Ferries’ MV Pentalina after a breakdown crisis was linked by islanders to food rationing in shops and people sleeping in cars.
The ferry operator’s managing director Robbie Drummond has admitted to concerned user groups: “There really are no good solutions.”
Meanwhile, Alasdair Allan, the former SNP minister and MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Western Isles), called on Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth to act in providing extra ferries to support the ageing fleet, adding: “There is poor contingency planning, and the pain of disruption is passed from one island community to the other.”
Transport Scotland said it was open to chartering the vessel.
The latest issues led to two Outer Hebrides routes being shut down for three days and ferry user groups have been demanding a proper contingency plan – including bringing in at least one new ferry.
The issues emerged after the 22-yearold MV Hebrides was taken out of action last week because of issues for the third time in as many weeks, with its firefighting system causing a series of cancellations across the network.
It returned to service on Monday morning following repairs after further disruption on services to and from Arran on its busiest weekend last weekend, when the 29-year-old MV Caledonian Isles had a problem with a main engine water cooler before creel ropes got caught in its propellers.
Following concerns about the level of disruption, Mr Drummond told several stakeholders in an email that the lease of MV Pentalina has been requested.
He said in an email seen by The Herald on Sunday: “We have looked at options to help with the situation in the Western Isles which causes the least knock-on impact. I know you understand that as we have no spare vessel to cover disruption there really are no good solutions.
“However, we must try to balance the needs of communities across the network with the resources we have at our disposal.”
When asked about the lease of the Pentalina, he said there had been extensive berthing trials in 2020 and added that CalMac had “recommended a short-term lease to support resilience”.
He added: “The decision rests with Transport Scotland.”
Transport chiefs have been urged by some ferry user groups to buy the vessel which had been for sale at a fraction of the £52.5 million being spent for each new ship currently being built in Turkey.
But Transport Scotland has reservations, saying that due to its age, approaching 15 years, it would not consider a purchase.
Seventeen of CalMac’s 35 working ferries deployed across Scotland are now over 25 years old.
The oldest in the CalMac fleet is the Isle of Cumbrae which is 46 years old.
Pentalina has been on the market for between £5.6m and £7m – having already been successfully tested with a view to a lease deal.
It can carry up to 350 passengers and 58 cars.
Despite successful berthing trials, Pentland Ferries, which runs a ferry service connecting Orkney to the mainland, decided not to enter into a leasing agreement last summer in the wake of concerns raised with Transport Scotland over safety.
The company said it would have the potential to cause “severe risk and reputational damage”.
Ferry bosses had first enquired about chartering Pentalina on March 26 last year – nearly three weeks before the engine failure of CalMac’s biggest vessel, MV Loch Seaforth, which caused seven weeks of chaos across the network.
The lease of Pentalina was planned to allow the operation of services to Arran and Mull to “enhance capacity and resilience” within the CalMac network.
CalMac at the time expressed “surprise and disappointment” at the inability to charter the vessel having already investigated its use to add additional resilience to lifeline services.
Union fears
BERTHING trials had shown she could successfully operate services to Arran and Mull and the state-controlled ferry operator had said it was “looking forward to her deployment”.
The Herald revealed the MCA, the agency regulating safety standards, said the MV Pentalina catamaran would remain out of service until technical issues would be resolved, after being raised by the RMT union.
The MCA said there were “discrepancies” uncovered over structural fire protection relating to the passenger accommodation and a corridor providing access to the crew accommodation and galley servery. But insiders say that the matter could easily have been sorted out and there were never fundamental safety issues.
Pentland Ferries had said at the time that the MV Pentalina had undergone annual surveys and inspections by authorities and remained available for charter or sale.
Last month, the Pentalina returned to service to take passengers between Gills Bay and St Margaret’s Hope in Orkney after the grounding of MV Alfred, having been passed fit to take to the water.
The Mull and Iona Ferry Committee has written to Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth and Transport Scotland urging them to get Pentalina into the fleet by purchase or charter urgently.
The committee chairman Joe Reade said it was an “essential and urgent priority”.
“We have seen how quickly she was recertified when there was a desire on the part of Pentland Ferries to get it done,” he said. “If there was similar desire on the part of government, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) or Transport Scotland to give the Hebrides a semi-reliable ferry service, then a purchase or charter would be finalised within days.
“CalMac have also requested to Transport Scotland that they charter the Pentalina, but so far there appears to be no action.
“It’s absolutely unforgivable that the Pentalina has not been brought into the fleet, when communities and even CalMac themselves are crying out for it.”
Transport Scotland has reservations, saying that due to its age, approaching 15 years, it would not consider a purchase of the MV Pentalina
Now Alasdair Allan has written to Ms Gilruth warning her that the “declining resilience and reliability of the west coast’s ferry network is causing serious harm to the islands’ economy” while calling for a compensation scheme to support islanders hit by the disruptions.
While CalMac and Transport Scotland denied that the ferry disruption had affected food supplies, Mr Allan said: “Village halls have needed to open their doors to accommodate stranded tourists. Once again, shelves in shops have been laid bare of fresh food. And once again, island businesses have borne the brunt of cancelled bookings, suspended shipments, and eleventh-hour contingency plans.
“As I know you appreciate, we simply need more vessels. The fleet is now wholly deployed, with no resilience whatsoever.
“Until those vessels being constructed enter service, we need to source additional tonnage in the immediate term. Island communities have made it clear that any intervention must happen with urgency. It must also reflect the size of the problem.”
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “The MV Pentalina was considered for possible charter in 2021 but was withdrawn from availability by its owner before the formal agreement was signed.
“We remain open to exploring a charter option should this be reconsidered by the vessel owner. We would, of course, need to consider the terms and affordability of any arrangement.”