CalMac: New ferry fiasco hits vital Islay supplies and famed festival

The Herald Scotland

22-05-2025

The community council on the island which had told CalMac last week of the "critical importance" of either a backup plan or to get the 14-year-old ferry back in service in time for the annual Fèis Ìle, or Islay Festival that starts tomorrow (Friday) says there is already "major disruption".
According to CalMac's schedule MV Finlaggan was due to go into for its annual maintenance on April 24, and return on May 12 - ten days ago.
And the council says they are still awaiting a back up plan as the busy bank holiday weekend approaches.
Key island haulier B Mundell Ltd has spoken out about the issues having on Wednesday been told they could not get a booking for trailer full of life-critical medical supplies and core and key infrastructure to keep the island going.
Local ferry users were told last Wednesday that additional work had resulted in a 24 hour delay to the completion of maintenance and a return to services.
It had been hoped it would be back on Monday - but it remains out of service and now CalMac has indicated the latest timescales are that it will not be back till Friday
"As soon as we hit points like that, where they can't get drugs, they can't get business-critical supplies to keep the things flowing... the island is not able to get basic resident needs", said Matthew Mundell one of two brothers who run the family business responsible for what it says is the lion's share of the freight on and off the island.
He says the failure to bring MV Finlaggan back online means the existing lower capacity ferries are "massively oversubscribed" and that it was indicative of a wider problem with ferries going on and off Islay that has been running for five years.
A CalMac spokesman said that according to its prioritisation matrix, the cargo would have been prioritised but that they did know the nature of the cargo at first. CalMac said they had been endavouring to get the issue resolved.
The annual festival Fèis Ìle, which was originally part of a plan to revive the Gaelic language, was left facing "significant difficulties" last year after CalMac initially failed to provide the usual additional sailings to allow whisky lovers and festival-goers to attend the nine-day long event at the end of May.
The festival regularly brings upwards of £10 million pounds to the local economy, and organisers said it is in "serious jeopardy" if a solution cannot be found.
Up to 20,000 people from around the world are usually expected on Islay and Jura for what is said to be one of the biggest gatherings of its kind on the planet.
Mr Mundell said that his company was desperately trying to get the reinstatement of a booking for a 55 foot lorry containing over 1000 parcels including medication, vital parts and supplies for utility services such as water, electricity and roads.
One of the Mundell trucks on an Islay ferry (Image: YouTube (eye scotland)) The company has told CalMac: "It would be helpful to receive an update on how the service has deteriorated to this point and how goods are currently being prioritised. Based on the manifests, this load should clearly be at the top of your published prioritisation matrix.
"As a family business, the ongoing disruption is costing us thousands of pounds per week in additional costs while simultaneously reducing our revenue in double digits. For the fifth consecutive year, our gross profits are once again being significantly impacted.
"Our patience is wearing extremely thin—by most standards, five years is more than enough time to resolve the operational issues CalMac continues to face."
The company said issues with deliveries has hit distillery production and claimed one local building merchant had run out of all essential supplies.
The company has asked for a meeting to sort out how promised services were not being delivered and how CalMac can "stop repeating the same failures".
Meanwhile the council has said it is insisting that CalMac advises what their back up plan.
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A message from CalMac to a user group said: "Once again huge apologies for the further delay, the port teams are working with each other and contacting all affected customers to either cancel or move to alternative sailings."
It said there was a request for extra capacity on the route for Friday which was "currently being looked at internally".
It is understood that users were told last week that the problems required the supply and installation of new pistons.
And that the timeline for supply of spares, resulted in an estimated 24 hour delay to the completion of the maintenance period and consequently the vessel's departure from the port of repair in Birkenhead, Merseyside and return to service.
The current vessels operating on the Islay route are MV Isle of Arran and MV Lord of the Isles which have the capacity to carry 953 passengers and 132 cars and are on a reduced service. The usual pairing of MV Finlaggan and the recently retired MV Hebridean Isles was able to carry over 100 more passengers and over 20 more cars and the haulier said that the carrying capacity was "significantly lower".
Mr Mundell of the hauliers who have depots in Islay, Tarbet, Glasgow and Alloa said that there was a failure of communication over what was happening with the ferry failing to return from its annual service on time.
Video: What makes the Islay Festival so special?
"The island is going into freefall, " said the key haulier who do 140 articulated movements a week on and off Islay. "Tomorrow, the shops will have no food, the hospital will have no medication. People are desperate. They are going bananas."
Mr Mundell, who is part of the Islay community ferry group that liaises with CalMac added: "I would not normally speak, but the Islay Festival, which is the biggest whisky festival on planet Earth starts and businesses don't have the goods. A significant amount of people come from all over the world for this. And the lead up to that week businesses move a lot of stuff that is critical to do with preparing for it. None of that can get over just now because of the ferry fiasco.
"Through all our customers, and through all our member organisations, people are singing from the same hymn sheet which is that things are looking extremely desperate.
"Nobody at CalMac is taking the responsibility for getting this sorted.
"They are taking bookings for Finlaggan being on the route, but it is not. They just don't have the capacity to service the islands.
"They keep saying it will back in two days. I told them last Friday, we will be lucky to see this back in a week.
"We move a lot of business critical supplies, including controlled prescribed medication on a daily basis. CalMac have removed our bookings on the 6pm sailing [on Wednesday], which means none of the medical supplies will get to the island for delivery tomorrow morning.
"Daily deliveries are needed to keep the infrastructure on the island - water, roads, SSE [energy] and Openreach [broadband] - running but they are not getting it.
"When we start points like that, when they cannot get the components to get the telephone working or can't get the drugs in the hospital, can't get the supplies to get the water flow, the island is at significant risk to not being able to provide the basic needs for the residents, let alone run a business.
"There is chilled food on the lorry that hasn't got a booking that is meant to be on the island.
"We have managed to struggle on through, but we have to the point that the boat cannot move the absolute essential goods. Our prioritisation as a business, we try to satisfy all our customers, but at the end of the day loads that have medical supplies and core and key infrastructure stuff to keep the island going as an island always takes top priority over everything we move. And we are now at the point where CalMac have confirmed they are not able to give us a booking for an important trailer.
"We are at a point where core services on the island - basic business operations like water, telecoms, the medical supplies for hospitals and pharmacy, chilled food productions are not being serviced..
"These are life-critical medical supplies. It is everything from a methadone prescription, to urgent medication, it is in locked boxes. It is stuff people need every day depending on their condition.
"I know it is common sense that they don't ship this stuff for fun. It is life-critical things that people need on the island to keep them healthy and well."
Food has already been a problem because of cyber crime.
The targeting of retailers including Marks and Spencer and Co-op has led to sporadic empty shelves across UK stores as the companies slowed deliveries and shut down parts of their IT systems in response to cyber attacks.
In most places, disappointed customers at least have the option of visiting other supermarkets to pick up supplies. But island communities such as that on Islay do not have that luxury, with Co-op the key store.
MV Lord of the Isles is continuing to serve Islay when it should be operating in and out of South Uist (Image: George Munro) "The solution is that we keep getting told we are getting new ferries and improvements are being made, but this is the fifth year in a row that Islay has seen significant disruption, to a level that restricts business, movements and the commerce on the island to the point that it is loss-making.
"If it carries on being serviced the way it is being services, business could not operate their profitably. And our business is losing money because of the additional cost we face when we have disruption because we cannot move them in an economical fashion."
The disruption has had a knock on effect on one of the most hit islands in the wave of ferry disruption - South Uist.
South Uist continues to be badly hit by a shortage of vessels on lifeline ferry routes and has been served by 37-year-old veteran MV Isle of Mull which is restricted to just 45 passengers since the start of the year ,while its regular ship - MV Lord of the Isles remains serving Islay.
Some islanders have been describing the services as "non existent".
One ferry user group officials said: "This is what happens when we get underinvestment in lifeline ferries. But the way you manage the fleet is key. There is never seems to be a well communicated back up plan and the losers are always island residents and businesses."
The new ferries, Glen Rosa and its sister ship Glen Sannox were both due to be online within the first seven months of 2018, to serve Arran. They were the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) dual-fuel ships ever built in the UK, capable of switching between LNG and marine diesel.
In the midst of the delays and soaring costs, Ferguson Marine, under the control of tycoon Jim McColl, fell into administration and was nationalised at the end of 2019 with state-owned ferry and port-owning agency Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd and the yard's management blaming each other.
Delays to the Glen Rosa are now heading towards the eight year mark, and is not expected to take passengers until between April and June of next year. Glen Sannox was launched in January, seven years late.
The costs of both vessels, are set to soar to more than five times the original £97m contract.