CalMac’s MV Hebridean Isles is to undergo a further round of investigations and repairs in a desperate bid to resolve a serious fault which has affected the vessel’s steering and manoeuvrability control since the beginning of the year.
The ship is being sent to drydock in Aberdeen until October.
With no guarantee of a successful outcome at this stage, CalMac is braced for a major headache in arranging relief cover for the fleet’s forthcoming overhaul season.
The key vessel’s prolonged absence exacerbates the acute shortage of ships in Caledonian MacBrayne’s fleet which has caused network-
Next in line as a go-
Transport minister, Fiona Hyslop, could not provide an absolute guarantee the Loti would not be removed from the service if needed.
Ms Hyslop has “made it clear” to CalMac she expects the impact of this summer’s withdrawal of the Lochboisdale service to “remain a key consideration” until at least the end of the summer timetable, although any wider impacts across the network would “need to be considered” on a case-
A malfunction with the 38-
Despite repeated visits to drydock and repair yards in conjunction with the attention of specialist engineers plus experiments with different sets of propellers, the root cause of the problem is not fully understood thus appropriate corrective actions cannot be applied to prevent its recurrence.
The ship was removed from CalMac’s fit-
The Heb Isles is scheduled to depart her lay-
The ship will be taken out of the water to allow engineers to work on her propulsion system.
She is booked into Dales Marine dry dock for nearly a month starting a week Saturday. Sea trials at the end of September will assess the outcome of the repairs.
CalMac said: “MV Hebridean Isles will depart Ayr on Thursday 24 August for transit to Aberdeen to enter dry dock on 2 September for an estimated four weeks.
“Further repairs are being investigated to find a permanent fix to her manoeuvrability issue.”
In her absence Lochboisdale has tended to be the default victim of CalMac’s controversial route prioritisation approach which selects which vessels are reallocated across the network in times of disruption.
The South Uist Business Impact Group rammed home the apparent inherent unfairness in the system to the Scottish Government.
The forum points out the redeployment assessment fails to consider the harm to the island’s economy and loss of trade to local businesses.
To the horror of islanders, CalMac abandoned South Uist in June, with a mass cancellation of mainland sailings across what is normally the third busiest month of the year.
In the previous month the island only received one ferry a week -
Islay has been deprived of an adequate service across the year with a reduction of capacity on a busy route.
The Campbeltown -
CalMac says it is currently exploring options on vessel deployment for Islay, Stornoway and Colonsay which are usually supported by the Heb Isles over the annual overhaul period.
At the heart of the problem with the west coast ferry network is successive government’s failures in enacting a ship replacement programme. The outcome leaves CalMac with a depleted fleet.
Until more vessels are delivered, CalMac says it is forced to make tough choices.
CalMac ship sent for further drydock repairs in attempt to resolve serious defect
24 August 2023