Proud history of iconic service that’s hit the rocks on SNP’s watch
THEIR signature black and white hulls and red and yellow lion rampant funnels have become a seemingly permanent feature of the Highlands and Islands landscape.
CalMac has been around, at least in some form, for much longer than many Scots and tourists realise, with the first journey of its forerunner traced back to the 19th Century.
In 1851, two ship-owning brothers, George and James Burns, secured the future of G & J Burns’s local coastal ferry services on the
West Coast of Scotland by selling the Scottish arm of their business to David Hutcheson & Co.
In the 1870s, that company was taken over by David MacBrayne and won contracts to deliver post to the islands.
It was christened Caledonian MacBrayne in 1973 after the Caledonian Steam Packet Co bought most of MacBrayne’s ships and routes.
In 1990 the Secretary of State for Scotland bought majority shares in CalMac, meaning that it was officially state-backed.
When devolution came into force, the Scottish Government took over, putting the company under its control.
By 2006, the current structure was consolidated, with shared responsibility between quangos Transport Scotland and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) and CalMac.
While the vessels are owned by CMAL they are operated by CalMac. As Scotland’s largest ferry operator, CalMac runs 29 routes to more than 50 destinations across 200 miles of the West Coast.
The fleet of 33 vessels completes more than 136,000 sailings a year, with crossings taking from five minutes to seven hours.
So important has the sight of the vessels become to locals, that a poem has been written about them, based loosely on Psalm 24. It reads: ‘The Earth belongs unto the Lord/ And all that it contains/ Except the Kyles and the Western Isles/ And they are all MacBrayne’s.’