Ferry group fails to meet in two years as lifeline services flounder

A group of ferry experts set up by the Scottish Government to advise on key issues affecting lifeline island services in Scotland has not met for two years, despite an ongoing ferry fiasco, writes Sandy Neil.

The Ferry Industry Advisory Group, established to inform the Scottish Government and its Transport Scotland agency on the way forward for ferry services, has not met since October 2019, when the network has continued to struggle with CalMac’s ageing fleet.

The Ferry Industry Advisory Group’s website explains it was set up in 2013, after ‘the Scottish Ferries Plan 2013 – 2022 laid out the Scottish Government’s desire to have ongoing consultation for all ferry-related issues.

‘The remit of the group is to provide Transport Scotland and Scottish Ministers with considered advice about strategic ferries-related issues in Scotland. The purpose of the group is to allow interested stakeholders with particular knowledge of the ferries industry to inform policy development.’

Members include the chief executive officer of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the managing director of Western Ferries, CalMac’s director of community and stakeholder engagement, a senior official from ZetTrans, and the director of HITRANS.

‘The group will meet up to three times per year,’ it says, and will not discuss local ferry issues, but strategic issues. The group, it continues, ‘exists alongside, and complements, other regular engagement with a range of stakeholders’.

Its last meeting papers are dated October 17, 2019, when it discussed the purchase of MV Loch Seaforth, the National Transport Strategy, the National Islands Plan, and the Strategic Transport Projects Review. The minutes said the next meeting would be in February 2020. However, none have been recorded since.

A spokesperson for Transport Scotland said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Economy has portfolio responsibility for the delivery of vessels 801 and 802. The Minister for Transport maintains an active interest in the progress of these vessels and receives regular reports as a matter of course.

‘Whilst the management and maintenance of the vessels is an operational issue for CalMac, we recognise communities’ frustration during periods of disruption. We are doing everything that we can to support CalMac to maximise available capacity across the network.

‘We acknowledge the CMAL fleet is ageing and as such we are delivering new tonnage to support our communities by working with CMAL, CalMac, MSPs, community representatives and others to develop investment programmes - at least £580 million over the next five years - for major vessels and small vessels.’

As recent evidence, he listed the deal to buy the MV Utne to operate on the Oban-Craignure route, and procuring two new vessels for Islay.