CalMac ferries crisis: Further delay to Hebridean Isles repairs suspends Campbeltown route for third month

West coast operator again forced to make “difficult decisions”

Further repair delays to an ageing CalMac ferry that has been out of action for more than four months have forced the operator to suspend sailings on its Ardrossan-Campbeltown route again until at least the end of July.

The company said work was continuing on the 38-year-old Hebridean Isles to fix its “controllable pitch propeller” in Troon.

The vessel, which normally serves the main Islay route, will continue to be replaced by Isle of Arran, which has itself been redeployed from the main Arran route.

Hebridean Isles has been out of action for more than four months. Picture: Mn28/Wikimedia Commons

Sailings on the Ardrossan-Brodick link will continue to be operated by Caledonian Isles and Alfred until July 27. The latter is a catamaran chartered from Pentland Ferries in Orkney to help plug gaps caused by CalMac vessels being out of service.

However, the extent of the ferry shortage means CaMac has postponed the start of summer sailings between Ardrossan and Campbeltown to July 27 at the earliest. These had already been delayed by two months to June 30.

But CalMac said this latest problem would not affect the restoration of sailings between Mallaig and Lochboisdale in South Uist from July 1, whose suspension has caused major protests from islanders and anger from politicians.

Lord of the Isles, which normally operates the route, is still expected to return from its temporary redeployment on the main Islay route when Finlaggan returns to Islay from its delayed annual maintenance.

A CalMac spokesperson said on the main Arran route: “From June 30, Alfred will operate to the current published timetable and Isle of Arran bookings will be transferred to that vessel. Once the transfer is complete by the end of next week, any remaining capacity will be bookable for customers.

“Alfred will continue to operate three return sailings Friday to Monday and two return sailings Tuesday to Thursday from June 30.”

CalMac chief executive Robbie Drummond said: “Ongoing work to Hebridean Isles has so far not fixed the issue and I am sorry that this has not yet been resolved. This delay is causing network-wide disruption and means that we must make difficult decisions regarding services once again.

“As we do not have a return-to-service date, we have had to plan service delivery around its continued absence using the vessels we have available.”