CalMac has announced that it will not remove South Uist’s relief vessel after assessing ferry shuffle proposals for the rest of this week.
MV Isle of Mull is needed to transport road tankers of fuel from Oban to keep the wheels turning on Uist and Barra, not to mention homes and businesses, after the jetty used for sea tankers was condemned indicated CalMac.
Fuel supplies have been delivered via CalMac ferries since.
CalMac considered removing MV Isle of Mull from South Uist and sending her back to
her regular Oban-Craignure route, which would apparently leave Lochboisdale without
a ferry connection.
But that idea was ruled out due to the need for the delivery of vital fuel supplies for Uist and Barra.
However, according to previous CalMac notices, passenger numbers on MV Isle of Mull
have been restricted to a maximum of 30 people when operating under dangerous goods
rules - such as applies for petrol and oil consignments.
In turn, that is likely to result in a heavy reduction in the number of vehicles being carried on affected sailings, and tends to rule out the chances of last minute travel opportunities.
South Uist’s designated vessel, MV Lord of the Isles (Loti), is now finally set to return from covering the Islay route while MV Finlaggan is undergoing a late annual overhaul on the River Mersey.
Islanders will give the Loti a warm welcome home when she eventually plies her contracted
route between Uist and Mallaig from this weekend - a grateful respite from the much
longer detour to Oban.
CalMac blames shipyard contractors for this week’s delay to the Finlaggan’s overhaul.
However, the big picture shows a longer chain of events responsible for holding her back beyond the winter overhaul season.
Chronic under-investment and a shortage of relief vessels, created the present tired,
aging fleet with under-powered ships often struggling to cope with routes which are
busier than ever before.
Finding a significant amount of steel - decayed and weakened over the years - within
MV Caledonian Isles’ structure was no great surprise given over a third of CalMac’s
35 ships are now in their fourth decade and operating beyond their life expectancy.
Complex repairs are set to come in £5 million with the vessel knocked out of action until the peak summer season starts to fade.
MV Finlaggan’s planned departure for drydocking in early March was postponed to accommodate the Caledonian Isles’ outage, but now leaves the network two ships down.
CalMac is confident she will return to service before festival fever grabs Islay when Fèis Ìle kicks off a week Friday otherwise the wrath of the community will be unleashed upon the shipping company.
Seven routes are impacted by her absence but barring further hitches, the Finlaggan should resume service on Saturday morning, releasing the Lord of the Isles for Lochboisdale.
Until then MV Isle of Mull holds the fort at South Uist. She will operate between Lochboisdale and Oban via Craignure on Thursday to provide additional capacity for Mull.
Duncan Mackison, CalMac’s interim CEO, said: “We are frustrated that MV Finlaggan’s return has been delayed, and our fleet management team has had a regular presence at the shipyard recently.
“We have made it absolutely clear that these delays, even if only for a few days, have a real, detrimental impact on the islands and communities we serve.
“With six new major vessels due to enter service by 2026, including MV Glen Sannox and MV Isle of Islay in the coming months, we will be much better equipped to manage maintenance delays and service disruption.”
Relief ferry retained -
14 May 2024
