Delay to new Stornoway ferry 27/11/13
The delivery date of the new £42 million Stornoway ferry has been delayed by two
weeks after a storm hit the ship yard it has emerged.
Gales ripped off part of the roof of the ship building hall at the Flensburger shipyard
in Germany where the vessel is being built.
The hull of the MV Loch Seaforth had been due to be launched in February. She is
expected to be in service between Stornoway and Ullapool on an unconfirmed date in
summer 2014.
The new 116 metre Roll On Roll Off vehicle passenger ferry will be owned by the
Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) which will lease it to Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited
(CMAL).
In turn, CMAL will charter her to the operator of the route.
CMAL’s director Andrew Duncan said : “There has been a little hiccup in Flensburger.
The building hall suffered damage to its roof.”
This means the “contracted delivery date is delayed by two weeks at the moment,”
he added.
“We have no idea if this can be caught up.”
Various sections of the ship are being fabricated in another part of the ship yard
and are not yet due to be welded together in the main covered building hall.
However, “two or three ships ahead of us” in the yard have been delayed and, unless
work speeds up, it will have a knock-on effect on the MV Loch Seaforth.
The new ferry will be capable of operating 24 hours a day with a capacity for up
to 700 passengers, and 143 cars or 20 commercial vehicles. She should be 10% faster
than the present MV Isle of Lewis.
CMAL is the Scottish Government company which owns the ships providing ferry services
to the Western Isles. Under European rules the vessels are charted to a the best
operator which successfully bids to run the service.
► A ferry in two halves