The director of one of the Western Isles' biggest business success stories has told of the challenge of delivering to A-list clients while navigating "disastrous" ferry disruption.
Malcolm Macrae of seaweed spa brand ishga said the transportation of goods was probably the single biggest challenge of running an island business and called for government subsidies to recognise this.
Firms making deliveries by boat are always governed by the weather to some extent but this has been compounded by the CalMac ferry disruption.
The brand saw its revenue soar by 230% from 2019 to 2022 and it now supplies more than 100 hotel spas in the UK including the five-star Dorchester in London.
"The disadvantage we have is that body of water we have between us and the mainland," said Mr Macrae, who co-founded the company ten years ago.
"The highest cost for us is getting it across the Minch [and] transportation links have been a bit of a disaster.
"It can be quite annoying if the ferry isn't on because there is no other way. We can get single goods away on the plane but if we have a large order to the Dorchester in London, that's one of our customers.
"If they take an order and they need it promptly and the ferry isn't working, that's not their problem, it's mine.
"It hasn't happened yet but it's a potential," he added. "Before Christmas we had customers who were holding events and we had it all ready to go - but we get a storm and the ferries couldn't sail.
"It wasn't a breakdown - that's a different issue - but that's happening a lot as well.
"Other businesses have had severe difficulties, especially those in the hospitality sector.
"It's not only ferries breaking down but not having the ferries to cover the run. Uig has been closed a couple of times, Tarbert has been closed. Anyone else [running a business] in the UK is not going to have that barrier."
He said the firm had always managed to make deliveries but at times this could be "by the skin of our teeth" but said he hoped the arrival of the long-awaited new ferries would end the current difficulties.
He called for greater provisions in the Islands Bill to recognise the costs of transporting goods.
"There are provisions but we are still paying a lot more than businesses in the mainland," he said.
"I'm not a big political animal. I think the bill is trying to treat people on the islands differently but sometimes the politicians don't really understand the barriers we have because they don't live here. I don't know what the answer is."
READ MORE:
- Kate Forbes: 'Dream of independence can halt Highland population decline'
- 'It was unacceptable to lose our Highland school - so we built our own'
- Tourism push in 'forgotten' Highland village 'aggressive and unfair'
Mr Macrae, who has a background in science, left the island to study at the University of Glasgow and returned after being offered a job with a pharmaceutical firm.
The firm employs 50 people on the island and recently appointed a graduate with a first-class honours degree from the University of Glasgow who was keen to return.
Like many living in the Highlands and Islands he believes a lack of career opportunities is the single biggest barrier to population growth.
He said: "A lot of people go away to further education or companies on the mainland and they are earning good salaries and they would struggle to come back to the island and find that position.
"I was quite lucky because when I graduated from Glasgow University I came back here and I was offered a job with a pharmaceutical company in Callanish.
"I was going to take it for six months and move away again but that job developed into a good job so it made me stay.
"It gave me the skills for us to start our own business. We now employ more than 50 which include quite a lot of people who are educated to degree level in chemistry, business or whatever it is.
"They returned because they saw an opportunity to have a decent job."
He said people who move to the islands probably arent expecting London salaries but if they can find a "happy medium" and want the island life, it's more likely that they will return.
He credits the brand's success with the products having such a strong connection to Lewis with ingredients like seaweed, spring water and herbs and plants sourced on the island.
He said: "I think if you have a business and it's doesn't have a connection to the land and the sea, you might struggle to market it and to convince anyone that it's unique."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here