Emergency CalMac vessel taken out of service over 'safety' concern

And the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers has now called for an inquiry into how the Scottish Government's ferry procurement strategy could have exposed people to "risk".

Brian Johnson, the chief executive of the MCA, the executive agency of that implements British and international maritime law and safety policy, said there were "discrepancies" uncovered over structural fire protection relating to the passenger accommodation and a corridor providing access to the crew accommodation and galley servery.

An MCA surveyor has visited the vessel to undertake an inspection of "the area of concern" after safety concerns were aired by the general secretary of the RMT Michael Lynch.

In a letter to Mr Lynch, Mr Johnson said: "The local marine office [in Aberdeen] is working closely with the operator to agree a solution to the area concerned. The vessel remains out of commercial service at this time. "

Managing director of Pentland Ferries, Andrew Banks insisted that the alterations were "minor" did not compromise safety.

Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency has been considering the suitability of Pentalina, which can hold 58 cars and 350 passengers.

Ferry bosses inquired about chartering Pentalina on March 26 - nearly three weeks before the engine failure of CalMac's biggest vessel, MV Loch Seaforth, which caused seven weeks of chaos across Scotland's lifeline ferry network.

Some 16 of state-owned ferry operator CalMac's 31 working ferries deployed across Scotland are now over 25 years old.

The oldest in the CalMac fleet is is the Isle of Cumbrae which is 45-year-old and is still a regular summer ferry on Argyll and Bute's Tarbert to Portavadie route.

But the RMT have been concerned over the safety of the vessel following a tip-off that the owner had personally altered the superstructure, "compromising safety provisions" at the intersection between the galley kitchen and passenger accommodation on the vessel.

The use of the Pentalina was frowned on by the RMT union, which said the vessel had been laid up in Kirkwall since November 2020 and were concerned that crew and passenger safety could be threatened.

“We have been proved absolutely right to do so," said Mr Lynch. "It is a fact that workplaces covered by trade union agreements are safer workplaces. On-board safety committees with crew representatives work well in CalMac Ferries but the buccaneering owner of Pentland Ferries, Andrew Banks clearly regards maritime safety regulations with the same suspicion he regards trade unions.

“This vessel had been declared fit for relief service on four CalMac routes by the MCA before the RMT’s intervention. Rather than working with the vessel’s dodgy owner to gloss over this shocking case, we need an inquiry into how the Scottish Government’s ferry procurement strategy has exposed crew and passengers to this unacceptable level of risk.”

RMT raised safety concerns with Mr Johnson on June 15, asking that MCA surveyors re-inspect the Pentalina.

Mr Lynch wrote: “You asked for further details of the union’s concerns over the safety impact of the significant alterations undertaken by the owner of Pentland Ferries to the structure of the Pentalina.

"The alteration which we would like MCA Surveyors to assess was to the galley servery, where it adjoins to the passenger accommodation on the vessel.

"A fridge counter that was positioned here and connected to a steel beam was removed using a grinder. A shutter remains in place but the original counter has been replaced with a glass fronted, mobile refrigeration unit.

"We are concerned that this compromises protection for passengers and workers from fires, including smoke inhalation, in the galley kitchen. "

An MCA spokesman told the Herald: "A surveyor from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency carried out an inspection on the vessel in question on 16th June 2021.

“Following the inspection, the vessel will remain out of commercial service at this time until the identified areas of non-compliance have been addressed and an MCA surveyor is invited back by the operators of the vessel to verify this.

“The MCA’s Aberdeen Marine Office are working closely with the operator of the vessel, who are fully cooperating, to resolve these deficiencies.

“It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

Campaigners have been appealing for the chartering of the vessel as an emergency back-up because of a series of breakdowns to CalMac's ageing fleet.

Transport Scotland confirmed Pentalina was taking part in berthing trials at a number of ports in order to potentially be introduced.

Mr Banks, said: “We confirm that the MV Pentalina was re-issued with a full Passenger Ship Safety Certificate (PSSC) by the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) in March this year. Since the vessel went into service in 2009, the MV Pentalina has held a full Passenger Ship Safety Certificate (PSSC), compliant with stringent safety checks, conducted by the MCA on an annual basis.

"Following a recent inspection, we were advised to reinstate the original café servery, to which we had made a minor alteration in 2015. This alteration in no way compromised passenger safety and will not affect any potential chartering of the vessel.”

On Tuesday, state-controlled ferry operator CalMac apologise after being forced to bring in a relief vessel as another of its fleet broke down causing three days of cancellations to lifeline services to an inner Hebrides island over the weekend.

The ferry operator had to cancel all services to the island of Lismore from Saturday after the 35-year-old MV Loch Striven, which can carry ten cars and 200 passengers, hit trouble.

As the problem with the hull on what is the sixth oldest vessel in the fleet was being fixed, the operator looked to another oldie to come to the rescue. The 35-year-old relief vessel MV Loch Linnhe, which has been retired from daily duties, came in to restart services on Monday.

On June 8, CalMac had to bring in a vessel to deal with a backlog of passengers, vehicles and vital freight following problems with access to two islands and after repairs to another of Scotland's oldest publicly owned lifeline vessels.

It was the fourth time and the third vessel that needed to be commissioned by CalMac over eight days.

There had to be three charters from private companies.

The CalMac relief vessel MV Loch Bhrusda was brought in for the island of Eigg to deal with booked vehicles, passengers and freight yesterday - two days after the 21-year-old MV Lochnevis returned to full operation after completing two rounds of repairs.

Issues with the vessel have combined with problems with getting the ferry to dock at the piers on islands of Eigg and Muck due to what CalMac described as "infrastructure" issues.

The network issues comes as would-be ferry replacements MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 are still languishing in now state-owned Ferguson Marine's shipyard, with costs of their construction more than doubling from the original £97m contract.

Ferguson Marine's financial collapse in August, 2019 resulted in state takeover, while the delivery of the ferries which were due online in the first half of 2018 will be over five years late.

The ferries contract was plagued by design changes, delays and disputes over cost, with the yard’s management and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the Scottish Government-controlled taxpayer-funded company which owns and procures ferries for state-owned CalMac, blaming each other.