CalMac has issued a rare instruction requiring every ship in the fleet to stay in harbour on Friday.
Many ferry services were already disrupted or cancelled due to dangerous wave condition from Storm Eowyn, but some captains were waiting for updated weather forecasts affecting their specific sea routes before making final decisions on potential amended sailings.
Normally, sailing decisions are made by individual masters based on the capability of their vessel, wind speeds, potential weather and sea state forecasts on their specific routes, as well as wind speed and direction at the pier and other berthing hazards.
The ferry operator has now ordered a network-wide cancellation of ferry services
for the whole of Friday.
This follows the Met Office upgrading the weather warning to red for parts of the country.
A CalMac spokeswoman said: “A red weather warning carries a threat to life and strict guidance not to travel, and this covers large parts of our network in Clyde and Argyll.”
She explained: “Services were already disrupted in areas under an amber warning,
and we do not want colleagues or customers to travel in these conditions for sailings
that were, had we not pre-emptively taken this decision, at high risk of cancellation.
“This decision is consistent with national advice. The safety of our people, and of those who travel with us, is our number one priority and it is with that in mind we have cancelled all sailings.”
CalMac said it is taking pre-emptive steps to protect its fleet from sea swell and
high winds, including relocating vessels to more sheltered areas of the coast where
necessary and provide extra secure additional moorings where required.
CalMac will provide an update on services from Saturday onwards on Friday afternoon, with strong winds forecast to continue for several days.
The ferry operator has notified affected customers and warned that phone lines will be busy for the next few days.
CalMac HQ orders ferry fleet to cancel all sailings amid red alert over Storm Eowyn
23 January 2025
