More trouble for the embattled CalMac with vessel unreliability- while the fleet owners, CMAL and the Scottish Government sit quietly back in the shadow, leaving the ferry operator to take the flak.
Yesterday MV Hebridean Isles, one of the two ferries dedicated to the Islay service, sailed to Port Askaig in Islay, then on to Colonsay which had had its service cancelled the day before.
It then set off for Oban but when it was off the Slate Isles, turned back, sailed through the Corryvreckan and went to Kennacraig. We do not know what happened to passengers from Islay and Colonsay when they got to Kennacraig – or whether it was possible for them to get to Oban at that time – but this will have been a long and miserable experience.
The problem was with the Hebridean Isles’ bow thruster- a device which makes neat berthing in a tightish spot possible. The ship’s master’s judgment was that this problem made it unsafe to berth in Oban; and so he took the decision to go to Kennacraig, as the nearest mainland port where berthing with a dodgy bow thruster was possible.
This morning the vessel suffered a second problem. This time with a hydraulic hose – but she is now back in service.
The rising rate of service disruptions due to technical problems with this ageing fleet has led to the islands of Islay, Colonsay and Mull simultaneously seeking meetings with new Transport Minister, Derek Mackay who, also as Islands Minister, will be understanding of their plight.
Colonsay has had the worst experience of all, but the Islay service to an always commercially active island has been continually hit and businesses are understandably angry.
The question is whether the Scottish Government can find the money to accelerate the replacement of the fast ageing CMAL fleet [details below] which the ferry operator is obliged to lease.
The problems are aggravated by the messy situation with the ownership of ports and harbours used by the CalMac services.
CMAL, as the state owned asset holder, also owns the majority of the piers and harbours on the west coast and islands but some are owned by various local authorities – as with Argyll and Bute Counsil’s ownership of Rothesay harbour, the redundant Dunoon linkspan and the jetty at Craignure on Mull – both of the latter controversial facilities for different reasons.
The current tender for the Clyde and Hebridean Ferry Services [with the winning bidder to be announced in May 2016, after the result of the Scottish elections earlier that month] is understood to be extended this time, with the inclusion of the former council run ferry services on the west coast.
This is a welcome arrangement in the greater efficiency to be gained in having one service portfolio under one service provider.
It remains to be seen whether – as anyone would hope would be the case – that the award of this contract is aligned with the resolution of the ownership of the outstanding piers and harbours like Craignure and Dunoon and many other smaller ones in the territory – which must become the sole responsibility of CMAL.
The Craignure situation ,where the jetty has for long had no or little maintenance from the council and suffers the effects of that neglect on a regular basis – leads to the detriment of the reliability of the ferry service . This is a constant aggravation to the island.
The Scottish Government’s Scottish Ferries Review committed to providing Mull with a two-boat service, which, if affordable, would be more efficient. But that commitment came with no timescale and the funds just aren’t there.
However, we understand that CMAL and the Scottish Government have notionally assigned the MV Isle of Lewis to the Mull route, to operate alongside the MV Isle of Mull, once the new and large MV Loch Seaforth is handling the Ullapool-Stornoway route single handed.
That no doubt will be a pacifier offered by the Transport Minister to the Mulleachs when he meets the angry islanders.
The CMAL fleet of 32 vessels has 21 older than 2000, 11 of which are older than 1990.
