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Replacement freight ferry sizes up port             21/12/12

A ro-ro freight ferry which normally sails in the Irish Sea is in the running to replace the MV Muirneag on the Stornoway to Ullapool haulage service.

The Maltese flagged MV Arrow owned by Seatruck has already been sized up for the ferry terminals at Stornoway and at Uig, Skye.

She called in locally to try out her suitability to berth stern-to at the linkspans.

Cal Mac is to charter a temporary ferry for about a year to carry haulage vehicles until the new, larger, combined passenger and freight Stornoway ferry is built in 2014.

At 122-metres long, the 14-year-old Arrow is bigger than the MV Muirneag. She also has a deeper draft at 6.2 metres. The 7,600 gross tons ship was bought for £12.2 million by Seatruck in 2007 and like the Muirneag she is restricted to 12 passengers.

The MV Arrow sails on a daily shuttle run between Dublin to Heysham. She would not be needed for the Stornoway service until the Muirneag leaves in October.

A CalMac spokesman said: "We are considering a number of options for the replacement of the MV Muirneag when she comes out of service in October next year, one of which is the MV Arrow.

“The opportunity to carry out trial berthings in Stornoway presented itself recently and we felt it prudent to take advantage of the this while she was in the area, however nothing has been ruled in or ruled out at this stage and we are continuing to investigate all options."