£22m public cost expected as MV Alfred kept for another five months

The Herald Scotland

03-06-2025

It is expected that that will take the costs of chartering the catamaran to £22m. That's £8m more than it cost to buy.
There is already an existing £17m bill for MV Alfred, which covers the period from May 2023, which on its own is half the price of a similar vessel that could have been bought outright four years ago but was rejected.
It comes as normal Arran ferry MV Caledonian Isles which was due out of its annual overhaul on February 17, last year remains out of service.
Some users have speculated about whether it will be available for its planned return on Monday after it was spotted being taken back to dry dock near Greenock after some said it appeared "rudderless".
Pentland Ferries aid the charter of MV Alfred, which is operating alongside CalMac's newest ferry the long-awaited and over-budget MV Glen Sannox until the end of October.
And some users have speculated that this is a sign that MV Caledonian Isles will not be returning as quickly as expected after a series of postponed returns.
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One user ferry group official said: "Nobody really understands what is going on because there has been little by way of communication. But clearly MV Alfred remains useful as there has been a lack of capacity in the system but mainly for Arran.
"But it does make you wonder what is happening with Cale Isles."
"We have seen some cuts to services in recent months around the islands, although not where the MV Alfred has been operating in. Nevertheless it has proved fairly reliable for Arran.
"It does make you wonder, however why it a ferry like that wasn't just bought in the first place as it would be cheaper."
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.
(Image: Newsquest)
The 32-year-old MV Caledonian Isles, which serves on the Arran route, one of the busiest on the Scottish coast, and is due to be replaced, has been out of action since going for an overhaul at the start of January, last year with repairs costing over £7m.
MV Alfred, which has been operating on the lifeline Arran service, one the busiest in the CalMac network, was built in Vietnam and can accommodate 430 passengers and 98 cars, or 54 cars and 12 articulated vehicles/coaches.
At the time it was described as the "most environmentally-friendly ferry in Scotland".
With the deal, all crew were to be provided by Pentland Ferries who are responsible for delivery of service and the operational, technical and safety management of the vessel, including maintenance, repair, overhaul and provision of crew throughout the charter period.
The costs are due to cover berthing dues, fuel, the commercial charter rate and other undisclosed costs.
Over four years ago a deal to buy a vessel similar in design to MV Alfred for £9m collapsed after the Scottish Government-owned procuring and ferry owning company Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) demanded a foreign firm pay up to £100,000 to pay for modifications that would allow it to gain UK maritime approval for it.
Negotiations had been taking place to secure the Indonesia-built vessel for months but the owners of the catamaran said they believed CMAL were never serious in completing the sale.
The vessel was expected to take around two thirds of the number of cars that MV Glen Sannox would be 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.
The Mull and Iona Ferry Committee that was pushing for the purchase said the Indonesia-built vessel would have been capable of working to all ports in the network with a full drive-through operation.
But CMAL said at the time: "We simply cannot spend millions of pounds of taxpayers' money on a new-build vessel that may not be able to secure a passenger certificate and therefore never be able to operate on Scottish routes.'
MV Alfred was originally meant to be on a nine month charter, and was to be in service until the first of two long-delayed ferries, Glen Sannox was in service. After delay upon delay, Glen Sannox entered service in January - but MV Alfred is still required.
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 more have increased fivefoled from the original £97m cost.
Ferguson Marine, which employs over 400 staff, including over 100 sub-contractors was taken over by the Scottish Government at the end of 2019 following its financial collapse as a row erupted over long delays and mounting costs over the delivery of the vessels.