South Uist has again had its ferry removed to support a different island. Only weeks after MV Lord of the Isles returned to service following a serious engine fire, the community has lost a mainland service due to CalMac’s ‘secret’ prioritisation matrix giving preference to other islands.
South Uist Business Impact Group (SUBIG) is furious at this further blow to the island’s economy during the final weeks of the main tourist season when many businesses were hoping make up for losses incurred during previous withdrawals of ferry service.
Given less around two hours to respond to a list of four options provided by CalMac the business group made clear some level of service must be provided to the island.
CalMac snubbed this view and opted to the complete removal of the ferry service.
The Lord of the Isles is joining the MV Finlaggan to provide a two-ferry service
to Islay, leaving South Uist without a service at all.
Previous removals of the South Uist ferry have been mitigated to a minimal extent
by providing extra sailings on the Eriskay-Barra route to provide connections with
the Barra-Oban service.
Yet CalMac have provided no such contingency timetable for the next week of no service
to South Uist, despite long-standing pleas from SUBIG for clear, published contingency
plans from CalMac for exactly this scenario.
Independent economic impact assessments during previous cancellations indicate Uist’s economy loses over half a million pounds every week the Lochboisdale service is cancelled.
The Scottish Government refuses all requests for business compensation and is not expected to change its mind during the current cancellation of the ferry whose ship it owns and for whose service it is ultimately responsible.
The withdrawal of South Uist’s ferry service is symptomatic of over a decade of ferry mismanagement by the Scottish Government. As the country enters autumn, the economy of Scotland’s islands appears to be heading straight to winter.
Mary Schmoller, a director of community landowner Stòras Uibhist, said “It is not two full weeks since we met senior management of CalMac and the government, as well as CMAL and asked for a consistent contingency plan.
“We were assured that it would be forthcoming and yet again South Uist is targeted to take the hit for everyone else. An artery is cut, so it's not a slow bleed to death but another nail in the coffin for families who live here. Government in both Edinburgh and London need to act now."
Ironically, the ferry service suspension occurs during a marketing campaign to attract additional visitors to Uist and help the island economy following its disproportionate impact of ferry disruptions.
A CalMac spokeswoman said: “MV Caledonian Isles has been removed from service for repairs after technical problems were discovered following berthing trials on Sunday.
“As MV Isle of Arran has left for scheduled annual maintenance, MV Hebridean Isles
is being redeployed to Arran to maintain a two-vessel service from tomorrow (Thursday).
Traffic affected today by cancellations on the Ardrossan-Brodick route were moved
to Troon-Brodick, which also operated an extra sailing today, or to the Lochranza-Claonaig
route.
“Using the route prioritisation matrix, Islay requires two vessels due to extremely high demand, so MV Lord of the Isles will join MV Finlaggan on this service from tomorrow (Thursday).
“Unfortunately, the Lochboisdale service will have to be cancelled but this is under constant review, and we aim to return service to this route as soon as possible.
“Currently, our staff are working on moving traffic to alternative sailings and once that is complete, we will assess any traffic still to be accommodated. In the meantime, displaced traffic will be moved to alternative routes via Lochmaddy and Stornoway, and we are working to add additional sailings and capacity if possible.
“Cancelling any sailing is always a last resort and we apologise to the South Uist community for the disruption that this will cause.”
All sailings cancelled: CalMac snubs South Uist’s plea to provide skeleton ferry service
25 September 2024
