The Comhairle welcomes the appointment of Finlay MacRae as Cal Mac’s new head of operations.
Mr Macrae has been promoted as the ferry firm’s north regional area operations manager into the newly created role.
He will work remotely from Cal Mac’s Stornoway office, with responsibility for the company’s network’s operations
This is the first senior Cal Mac post to be based in the Western Isles.
The comhairle hopes more senior management level personnel will be based in the islands.
Over the past 15 years, the council has lobbied for the decentralisation and relocation of Cal Mac posts to the Western Isles.
This point was again raised during last week’s discussion Scotland’s ferries’ minister Paul Wheelhouse.
The comhairle also called for a new focus on training and recruitment in the islands to provide more locally based ferry crews, insisting crewing ships with seafarers living within the Western Isles will ensure the resilience and sustainability of services.
Uisdean Robertson, the comhairle’s transportation chief, said: “The appointment represents a clear commitment from Cal Mac to relocate jobs to the communities which they serve.
“Cal Mac’s decision also sits well with aspects of the comhairle’s covid-
“While the positives of this appointment must be acknowledged there is no doubt that the workforce balance between locally based and mainland based Cal Mac staff must be addressed.
“Local crewing and training should be made a priority that will improve the resilience of the service and help make savings to the public purse.”
Senior Cal Mac boss to be based in Western Isles
23 July 2020