Cost to repair CalMac ferry now costs £2m more than to buy replacement

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

The rejected ferry was similar in design to the 'emergency' catamaran ferry MV Alfred serving Arran that has now been chartered for a further five months to help state-owned ferry operator CalMac cope with lifeline services across the Clyde and Hebrides network.
The usual Arran ferry MV Caledonian Isles was due out of its annual overhaul on February 17, last year but remains out of service.
After a series of postponements, its latest scheduled return has been pencilled in for June 12.
Some users had hoped it would be back on Monday and CalMac said it was always earmarked for the week beginning June 9.
The ship has faced a series of issues including rust and twisted frames.
In the meantime, the service to Brodick has had to move from Ardrossan and continue from Troon with a two-vessel service of the new much delayed and wildly over-budget Ferguson Marine-built MV Glen Sannox and MV Alfred.
Four years ago the Scottish Government-owned owner of the ferry fleet demanded a foreign firm pay up to £100,000 to gain UK maritime approval before purchasing ferry for just £9m - and the insistence led to the deal collapsing.
Discussions about acquiring the Indonesia-built vessel came before what was described at the time as a 'summer of chaos' across Scotland's ageing ferry network.
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It was claimed that Scottish Government-owned procuring and ferry owning company Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) made an "incredible" move to have the overseas owners fork out for the official approvals for any modifications to make it suitable for Scottish waters which were estimated to have cost no more than £100,000.
CalMac (Image: Newsquest) Scottish Labour's spokesman for community safety Katy Clark said: 'Spending almost £11m to repair a vessel that is 32 years old shows once again the wasteful nature of this SNP Scottish Government and poor decision making when it comes to spending public money and their utter lack of planning to ensure the CalMac fleet was renewed.
"The SNP government quango, Caledonian Marine assets Limited (CMAL) rejected calls four years ago to buy a brand new £9m catamaran ferry to support the islanders of Arran and those that travel from the mainland to the island.
"We now have ended up with a bill to the taxpayer of £10.8m for a vessel that's already months late in returning to service and which can't be guaranteed to even last the summer months given its history of breaking down."
The West of Scotland MSP added: "This is another blow for the residents on Arran and the mainland. The Scottish Government have serious questions to answer again relating to their complete failure to ensure a reliable service between Arran and Ardrossan.
"It is imperative that [transport secretary ] Fiona Hyslop gets to grips with this situation, provides a definitive business case for the redevelopment of Ardrossan Harbour to ensure there is a ferry service that people can rely on and that they put in place an adequate vessel building programme in Scotland. We need decisive action not further delays and vessels that aren't fit for purpose.'
A ferry user group official said that the rising costs of repairs were "indicative of the mismanagement of Scotland's ferries" and called for CMAL to take the use of catamarans like MV Alfred seriously.
"The cost of this repair really does beggar belief and the fact that the price of it would more than have paid for a catamaran like MV Alfred is incredible."
The Mull & Iona Ferry Committee had been pushing the purchase of the ferry because of issues with the ferry services after local experts discovered the vessel had become available last year.
MV Alfred (Image: NQ) The ferry would have been capable of taking two thirds of the number of cars that MV Glen Sannox would have been able to accommodate and a condition of the sale was that it would have had to be approved by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which provides official certification for all ships.
The over-200 foot metre roll-on roll off ferry could take 300 passengers and around 80 cars and was originally designed for a non-UK company, and was regulated for the Australian market.
But the Scottish Government said that after a review of a Maritime Safety Innovations (MSI) report it was decided not to pursue the purchase of the vessel.
The sellers, Hong Kong-base Sealease, criticised the handling of the failed potential purchase saying that it was common market practice that the buyer pays for regulatory approvals.
The ferry committee had been introduced to the potential advantages of medium-speed catamarans by noted ferry experts Prof Alf Baird and Roy Pedersen.
In May 2020, Mr Pedersen wrote to the CMAL alerting him to the opportunity to buy the catamaran that was under construction in Batam, Indonesia.
The catamaran was similar in design to the MV Alfred owned by Pentland Ferries which before its operation as an 'emergency ferry' for Arran in the past two years was operating to and from Orkney.
Dubbed the most environmentally-friendly ferry service of its kind in Scotland, MV Alfred was said to burn one third of the fuel of an equivalent CalMac ferry with space for up to 430 passengers and 98 cars, or 54 cars and 12 articulated vehicles/coaches. A shore-based wind turbine provides power when the vessel is docked overnight.
It has, meanwhile been confirmed that the 'emergency' CalMac catamaran ferry which is being chartered for a further five months will be costing the taxpayer some £22m.
Pentland Ferries has stated that it has signed an agreement with publicly funded CalMac to extend the charter of MV Alfred till the end of October.
Pentland Ferries staff, who are operating services on behalf of Scottish Government-owned ferry operator CalMac, bought MV Alfred for £14m in 2019 to operate between Caithness and Orkney.
It has previously emerged that Scotland's ageing ferries have been hit by a staggering 2,000% rise in cancellations due to breakdowns over 13 years.
Crisis-hit CalMac was forced to axe 4,485 lifeline sailings due to technical faults in 2023 compared with just 217 in 2010 as it struggled to keep its fleet afloat.
Meanwhile, the company running the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde has been dogged with issues with the delivery of major lifeline ferries Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa which were due online in the first half of 2018 when Ferguson Marine was under the control of tycoon Jim McColl. With both to serve Arran, they have been over seven years late, while Glen Rosa might won't see passengers till the middle of 2026 at the earliest. The last estimates suggest the costs of delivery have increased five-fold from the original £97m cost.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: 'The Scottish Government is investing in six new major vessels to serve Scotland's ferry network from 2025, alleviating the need for extensive repairs on older vessels and improving reliability. The first of these vessels, MV Glen Sannox, was delivered into service earlier this year and we expect the first of the Islay class vessels later this summer.
'CMAL have also awarded the contract for a further seven new smaller vessels which will serve routes across the west coast and have also just announced the start of procurement for two new vessels for the Northern Isles routes serving Orkney and Shetland.
'To improve service in the short term, we also purchased the MV Loch Frisa and extended the charter of the MV Alfred. We continue to work with operators and CMAL to improve resilience across our networks.'