'Exceptional circumstances' with CalMac's ageing ferry fleet trigger route changes

A further worsening of CalMac’s ageing fleet crisis will force extended changes to the company’s west coast network as it revealed three major vessels face longer repairs that will delay their return to service.

The Scottish Government-owned operator announcement on Wednesday will see vessels continue to be redeployed from Friday to mid-May to cope with one third of its biggest ferries remaining out of action or having significantly reduced capacity.

It will mean less space on CalMac’s main Mull route between Oban and Craignure, and to Coll and Tiree.

Chief executive Duncan Mackison said: “We are dealing with an exceptional set of circumstances here. Challenges with several vessels in the fleet have converged at the same time, creating a significant capacity issue, which leaves us with difficult choices to make in terms of service provision.”

The setbacks include Caledonian Isles, CalMac’s largest Clyde ferry, needing further repairs for machining its stern tubes. This means its extended overall layoff will continue until mid or late April rather than the end of March - an unprecedented 15 months for a company ship to be out of action.

Caledonian Isles has been undergoing repairs since January last year | John Devlin/The Scotsman

Barra ferry Isle of Lewis will be nearly a month late in returning from overhaul, on March 23 rather than next Monday.

CalMac said Clansman’s overhaul had also been “slightly delayed” and would return on March 9 on the Little Minch route.

These come on top of Isle of Mull - the island’s main ferry - being limited to 45 passengers rather than the normal 900 because its evacuation system needs replacing. The work is expected to take about four weeks and be completed by the end of June.

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CalMac said the changes also meant its summer Campbeltown-Ardrossan service would be suspended for a third year because of the lack of vessels.

Alfred has been chartered by CalMac for its main Arran route since 2023 | John Devlin/The Scotsman

The Alfred catamaran chartered from Orkney operator Pentland Ferries will see its contract extended by two months to the end of May to help plug the gaps.

But it means that until Caledonian Isles returns, all sailings to Brodick on Arran will be on the longer route from Troon as neither Alfred nor brand-new Glen Sannox can use the normal mainland port of Ardrossan.

Mr Mackison said: “Given the age of our fleet and the need to overhaul all vessels outside of the busy summer season, our vessels are spending a record amount of time in overhaul this winter.

“This stretches our services and, when unplanned delays such as those we’re experiencing with Isle of Lewis and Clansman are factored in, our resources to the limit.”

Mr Mackison said of the Campbeltown route being suspended again: “We do recognise that this is disappointing news for the Campbeltown community, but we do have to prioritise island communities where the ferry service is a genuine lifeline and other modes of transport are not available.”

He said the shared service between Barra and South Uist because of Isle of Lewis’ extended repairs would continue until March 22.

Mr Mackison said: “The extension of the shared service is far from ideal, but is the only deployment plan available to us which allows us to maintain services and meet demand across the network.”

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Sue Webber said: “This is a disgraceful new low in the SNP’s seemingly endless ferries fiasco.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie added: “Islanders are fed up with this mess. It’s about time someone in this SNP Government carried the can for repeatedly failing island communities.”