'Chaos' over five sidelined CalMac ferries & one that 'should be written off'

The Herald Scotland

21-06-2025

There are currently three ferries sidelined - with two more scheduled in the pipeline over the next month in the height of the summer season for Scotland's islands.
And there are concerns that the spin off effect will lead to disruption to a major Gaelic festival.
News that the 32-year-old CalMac veteran was sidelined indefinitely - after 17 months out of action for repairs - comes at the height of the summer season and coincided with protesters converging on the Scottish Parliament to protest over the uncertainty over the future of Ardrossan as a port for ferries.
Users estimated hundreds of passengers have had to be diverted 15 miles to Troon to get on either MV Glen Sannox or MV Alfred to get to Brodick on Arran after CalMac took booking for the stricken MV Caledonian Isles.
Buses have been brought in to operate between Ardrossan port and Troon port for foot passengers until further notice.
MV Caledonian Isles (Image: NQ) Users have now been told that the £1m-a-month MV Alfred one of two vessels serving Arran will be sidelined between July 7 and July 21 for essential maintenance having had that overhaul previously delayed.
There has been disquiet as Arran is reduced to a one-vessel service early on June 25 with staff needing mandatory training. But timetables for the sole vessel MV Glen Sannox are resulting in three journeys, described by one user group official as "completely inadequate". All of MV Alfred's three return sailings have been wiped out.
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Past summer timetables have had 10 return journeys on the same day.
Meanwhile CalMac's booking system has been shut for new booking and amendments. CalMac has told users it will be in touch with any impacted customers with a booking between June 25 to July 6 over disruptions.
It has further emerged that another of the CalMac work horses 36-year-old MV Lord of the Isles which serves the South Uist which has been the subject of protest over cuts to services is to be taken out between July 9 and 11 for cylinder head works in Oban.
MV Lord of the Isles (Image: .) For several years, South Uist has regularly been the victim of cuts due to ferry breakdowns and delays in annual maintenance which climaxed in losing their service completely for nearly the whole of June, 2023.
And users have been told that 38-year-old MV Isle of Mull has been sidelined to install a Marine Evacuation System (MES) - after it had its capacity cut to 45 from due to safety concerns and is not scheduled to return till the end of June.
The ferry has been supporting services around the Uists because of problems elsewhere in the system and John Daniel Peteranna of the South Uist Business Impact Group (SUBIG) which started a major protest over service cuts in June 2023 said that MV Caledonian Isles should have been written off and that MV Alfred should have been bought.
And he said that the work on Isle of Mull, which went out of service around May 23, would take three weeks but that that time has passed. CalMac denies saying it would take three weeks and that they are awaiting regulatory approval for it to resume normal operations as soon as possible
"They never keep to plan, it is always late," he said.
He said it is feared the departures would lash with one of the major island events with the Ceòlas Summer School celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, from 6th to 11th July.
It emerged that 24-year-old MV Hebrides is to be removed from service on June 30 until July 3 to allow for inspection to her bow visor. Users were told that MV Alfred would be covering for its departure, but the uncertainty over MV Caledonian Isles has thrown a spanner in those works.
Mr Peteranna said the Ceòlas Summer School event is a major Gaelic festival in Scotland and is internationally recognised as being significant for Gaelic language and culture.
John Daniel Peteranna (Image: NQ) He said that it was feared the "risk posed by the removal of the Lord of the Isles from Lochboisdale for Ceòlas week is huge, causing major disruption for participants, tutors and the local businesses and community who rely on all our transport links to be fully operational".
He said: "Ceòlas is a charitable organisation, and the possibility of this disruption causing participants to cancel their attendance, and the subsequent loss of confidence looking to the future could be extremely damaging.
"The event is long-standing in the Uist calendar and is attended by many who travel to take part from all over the world."
The cost of repairing 32-year-old MV Caledonian Isles spiralled to be just £3m short of what Pentland Ferries spent to buy the emergency catamaran replacement MV Alfred that has been seen as a 'stalwart' performer on the Arran route.
The £11m repair cost which is expected to rise is £2m more than a catamaran ferry available for £9m four years ago, which was rejected by Scottish Government-owned procuring and ferry owning company Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL).
The rejected ferry was similar in design to MV Alfred which was chartered for a further five months to October help state-owned ferry operator CalMac cope with lifeline services across the Clyde and Hebrides network.
MV Alfred (Image: Newsquest) So far the bill for chartering MV Alfred amounts to £22m - which is £8m more than it cost to buy.
A ferry user group official said: "It is the height of the summer season, and even with MV Glen Sannox in the mix we have a chaotic period where nobody seems to know what is happening, when it will happen and how it will happen.
"MV Caledonian Isles should have been written off because by the time you calculate the total cost of the repairs which is £11m and now rising, you could actually have bought an MV Alfred.
"The problems with Caledonian Isles echo that of MV Hebridean Isles which has now been put out to pasture.
"The chickens again come home to roost on the government failure to properly invest in our ferries."
MV Hebridean Isles, which served Arran, was retired and scrapped at the end of last year after 38 years service after it required lengthy and costly repairs - including in 2023 when it was out of action for 10 months with repairs costing £2.5m.
CalMac have told users: "Although we plan and prepare for multiple eventualities – this is not what we hoped for. Everyone at Caledonian MacBrayne is disappointed that MV Caledonian Isles is not yet ready to carry passengers.
"This is keenly felt by our team, and we know that will be the case for customers and communities – especially so close to her planned return to service. We continue to work closely with the gearbox manufacturer onsite. Thank you to the communities and customers for your patience while we work at pace to resolve this further issue – and to return her to service."
A £97m ferry contract to build two ferries at the Inverclyde shipyard firm Ferguson Marine, owned then by the Scots tycoon and entrepreneur Jim McColl got approval a decade ago.
The Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries were due to start taking passengers in the first half of 2018 with both eventually to serve Arran but have run seven years or more late with costs expected rise more than five fold the original £97m contract. Glen Sannox finally started taking passengers in January.
In the midst of the delays and soaring costs, Ferguson Marine under the control of Mr McColl fell into administration and was nationalised at the end of 2019 with CMAL and the yard's management blaming each other.
A CalMac spokesman said: "Like many people across the network, everyone at CalMac is disappointed MV Caledonian Isles hasn't returned. We want to give communities and customers certainty over services for the remainder of summer, and that is why we are developing a plan for not having MV Caledonian Isles, and a plan for having her which can be implemented when she returns."