CalMac has instructed MV Hebrides to cover sailings for her own relief vessel which has developed an engineering fault.
MV Clansman should have picked up the Uist -
Engineers are working on her broken starboard engine at Oban where she arrived yesterday before 1pm.
The extent and timescale of required repairs is currently undetermined.
Fortunately, MV Hebrides had delayed her departure to dry dock in case of such an event and will continue to ply the Uist route until further notice. She will carry out a one-
CalMac is considering options regarding the Clansman with an update expected on Tuesday.
This is the second time this month overhaul plans for MV Hebrides were paused. She should have been on voyage today to Birkenhead under an amended arrangement to enter drydock on Wednesday morning.
Instead, she has to wait for the Clansman to be repaired as CalMac has zero options to call in another ship without cutting lifeline services elsewhere in its network.
The fleet is already stretched to its limits and all CalMac vessels are committed to other lifeline routes and quite a number of island communities are presently experiencing a diminished service.
The Clansman’s visit to drydock in Birkenhead was extended by the need to replace a section of worn and corroded steel.
Problems emerged on her northbound voyage on Sunday and she was pulled from service.
The event has echoes of similar disarrays this time last year, when an inspection of the Clansman uncovered a fifty square metres section requiring new steel plates, delaying the vessel from relief operations on the Lochmaddy service.
MV Hebrides remains on island route after relief ferry breaks down
20 February 2023
