The delivery of the Caledonian MacBrayne’s first Turkish-built ferry has been pushed
back by two months.
MV Isle of Islay - the first of four new-build CalMac sister ships - was repeatedly
promised to be ready for a mid-October handover.
Now, the vessel will not be completed until the end of the year.
War in Ukraine, Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping, and the devastating earthquake in Turkey all contribute to the delay, said Scottish Government agency, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL).
The £45 million vessel was launched in March as the first of four similar vehicle-passenger
ships under construction at the being built at the Cemre shipyard for Caledonian
MacBrayne’s west coast network.
MV Isle of Islay and her sister make up the first pair and will serve Islay and Jura. Another two vessels of the same class are to operate Western Isles’ routes.
Kevin Hobbs, Cmal’s chief executive, outlined the delay obstacles in an update tot e Scottish Parliament.
He said: “Global supply chain events have affected the schedule for the supply and delivery of materials and equipment, which has been challenging for all new build shipbuilding contracts.
“The incursion in the Red Sea means that much of the main equipment is routing around the Horn of Africa adding many weeks to journey times.
“There have been major challenges the yard has had to overcome in the programme; the war in Ukraine affecting the supply of steel, the devastating earthquake in southeastern Türkiye, which led to a serious loss of manpower the shipyard, with many of the workers in the yard and subcontractors travelling to the region to assist in the rescue operations.”
The external challenges have impacted the delivery date for MV Isle of Islay from
the previously advised date of mid-October towards the end of 2024 which is still
within the contractual delivery period said Cmal.
An exact delivery date is not available at present but initial assessments indicate a “couple of months.”
At the end of June good progress was reported with the vessel at the outfitting stage and entering the commissioning phase.
Recently, her generators / engines for the propulsion system have successfully fired up and run. Auxiliary generator systems have also been tested out. s
Two month delay hits new CalMac ferry being built in Turkey
8 August 2024
