CalMac has devised a timetable to keep Skye triangle services going for the next few days in the hope MV Clansman will be repaired in time to take over the routes on Tuesday.
Within the shipping company, a dedicated team has been assembled to focus on the current disruption affecting the west coast ferry network.
The group is working tirelessly to keep essential sea services running as they battle a complex, developing situation blighted by breakdowns in the aging and over-
Harris and Uist are the latest communities to suffer interruptions with regular ship MV Hebrides repeatedly postponing her statutory annual overhaul while the MV Clansman is dogged with engine problems.
A temporary solution for the Little Minch crossing was agreed when MCA approval was granted for what’s effectively an extended interim operating licence permitting the Hebrides to carry passengers for another couple of days.
CalMac announced the sailings immediately after MCA approved a derogation to MV Hebrides late yesterday.
Timetables from tonight until Monday are now confirmed.
Afternoon sailings for Tarbert are cancelled on Monday with affected Harris passengers advised to travel via Stornoway and Ullapool.
Most major CalMac network links are suffering reduced capacity or restricted services.
After reducing the Lochboisdale link to a once-
Hold-
Robbie Drummond, Chief Executive of CalMac, said "We spent a record £34m on fleet maintenance last year, which was an increase of around 70% from £20m in 2017. Annual overhaul is a highly complex task which our teams plan for months and involves an average of 35,000 engineering tasks being carried out across the fleet.
“This increased investment can be attributed, in part, to the age of the vessels, with more than 38% of them exceeding 30 years of age and increasing challenges around obsolescence and obtaining parts. Investment in maintenance is planned to grow to well over £40m in 2023.”
He added: “Breakdowns cause a great amount of disruption and when they occur, we pull together specialist teams from across the organisation who prioritise getting the vessel back into service.
“We have no spare vessels in the fleet, so the teams focus is on protecting essential services and moving customers onto other sailings if possible.
“We take our responsibility to support island economies and to provide communities with a quality lifeline service very seriously.
“Decisions to cancel services are taken as a last resort but we recognise that disruption to services is extremely challenging for customers. "
A CalMac spokeswoman said: “Our charter of MV Alfred from Pentland Ferries was due to start on 18 April, but because of delays with their replacement vessel MV Pentalina, Pentland Ferries have unfortunately been unable to release MV Alfred to us.
“Therefore, we are unable to bring her into service at this time to assist with the current disruption as we had hoped.
Pentland Ferries has not confirmed a date for releasing MV Alfred .
“We are pleased to confirm that MV Hebrides will not be departing for annual overhaul on Saturday 22 April and will remain in service until Monday 24 April and an amended timetable for Uig-
“MV Clansman is expected to return to service on Tuesday.”
CalMac team battling to deliver sailings amid developing disruption situation
21 April 2023
