THE only grocery store on a Scots island has had to go without supplies for at least eight days - as mix of bad weather and vessel issues have slashed lifeline services.
The general store on the island of Colonsay has lodged a complaint over a failure in communications with the state-controlled ferry operator CalMac as just two of 29 services were classed as operating normally yesterday.
The rest were either subject to cancellations or said to be liable to disruption.
CalMac has warned that ferry services are expected to be disrupted throughout this week.
Colonsay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, located north of Islay and south of Mull, has suffered ferry suspensions on and off for the last three weeks.
It comes just over a week after Western Isles council leaders warned that a lack of resilience in the services are hitting the delivery of essentials to the islands.
Some islanders posted images of empty food shelves in stores the Isle of Lewis.
CalMac has said unforeseen ferry faults had been partly to blame for disruption along with the impact of recent storms.
Last week it emerged that substantial amount of emergent steelwork had been discovered on one of the ageing ferry fleet's elderly statesman, the 25-year-old MV Clansman in dry dock, and this has had delayed her return.
CalMac posted an image of MV Clansman engine room works in dry dock
READ MORE: CalMac's response to islanders' concerns over food shortages as ferry services fail
CalMac confirmed yesterday (Monday) that MV Lord of the Isles would be covering for Clansman on the South Uist route until at least March 3.
The Colonsay General Store has lodged its concerns about the service with CalMac saying that as the Thursday ferry was unable to bring supplies they will have had to go at least eight days without.
The owners of what is described as The Best Wee Shop In The Hebrides, which provides food and fuel on the island, said that cancelling the ferry on Friday in favour of a Thursday service meant supplies arrived at Oban at 6am and have remained there.
They say that with the cancellation of Monday's boat "despite a favourable forecast", they will not make the island before bein perished or out of date.
They said: "Where was the promised communication with local communities to avoid this and find us a service which met our needs?
"We appreciate how tricky it must be to serve all communities with the vessels currently available. The main point here is communication. There wasn’t any. A quick call to the shop could have changed everything… "We may have been without a service for several days, but without communication it will be at least eight days without supplies. This is just not acceptable.
"Thurs did not work for us - no one checked."
They added: "This is simply not on. How hard is it to consult with the community before making these decisions."
The ferry operator said they had best weather window for a service to Colonsay was determined to be on Thursday.
"When we make decisions to cancel a sailing, the safety of our customers and crew must come first," the operator told the store.
"We keep the community council informed of changes and cancellations and update our service status in as far in advance as possible.... These factors are creating a challenging picture for our customers and CalMac.
"It is very upsetting that the communities we serve have been without a ferry service for several days and the impact this can have on lives and livelihoods is at the forefront of our minds and the decisions we need to make."
The ferry operator added: "The safety of crew and passengers will always be the primary concern of our captains.
"We’re very sorry for the distress caused. Teams will continue to explore every possible option to provide a service where a weather window allows."
The ferry operator told ferry users in announcing another suspension of services: "Cancelling a sailing is a decision we do not take lightly. We know it will inconvenience our customers and the communities we serve.
"However, the safety of our customers and crew must come first. In this instance, the Master of the vessel has judged it is necessary in response to the assessment of adverse weather conditions."
The shop has found itself at various locations over the years, but has been serving the Isle of Colonsay from the current building in Scalasaig since the 1960s. In that time it has seen five different owners.
The ferry operator confirmed many sailings could not go ahead on Monday because of winds of up to 51mph.
As of 5pm on Monday at least 12 of the 29 CalMac services had been hit by at least one sailing cancellation.
The only ferry crossings that were classed as operating as normally out of the 29 were the crossings to Uig on the Isle of Skye and the island of Kerrera.
It comes after a week of disruption due to a mixture of storms Dudley and Eunice and technical issues with ferries.
CalMac said: "The ongoing adverse weather conditions mean that we are still experiencing disruption to ferry services across the network. This is likely to continue throughout the week commencing February 21."
Last Monday CalMac warned of disruption throughout what it called "the fourth week of extreme and unprecedented weather disruptions".
Robert Morrison, ferry operator CalMac’s director of operations, said: “We shared last week that this is taking place when other factors are affecting our service – including technical faults, overhaul, and the continuing but lesser effects of Covid-19.
“We know we cannot control every factor, but we want to stress to our customers again that we do understand how much you and the communities we serve rely on our services.
“Ensuring ferries work as they should is our priority and we are working hard to ensure we limit the impact of this upcoming period of disruption as much as we can and protect the lifeline service we deliver.”
A fortnight ago it emerged issues with short cabling were expected to add further delay and increase costs over the already put back delivery of two green vessels at the centre of Scotland's ferry fiasco.
The ferry destined to serve the Isle of Arran will be delayed even further after a “blunder” with internal cabling was discovered.
Both Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and Hull 802, being built at the nationalised Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow, rely on a “complex network” of more than 9800 cables.
The cost of both vessels has doubled to around £200m while their delivery is nearly five years late.
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