AN islands council has called on ministers to solve a new lifeline ferry fiasco which has left one island without a ferry service, another route dropped and a reduced service on one of Scotland's busiest services.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, which covers the Western Isles hit out after MV Hebrides, one of the biggest in the ferry operator CalMac fleet collided with a pier - causing a series of cancellations to services.
All sailings on the Tarbert, Uig and Lochmaddy routes had to be cancelled on Thursday after state-controlled ferry operator CalMac reported that the 22-year-old vessel "made contact" with Lochmaddy Pier on Wednesday night.
It comes after the 33-year-old Lord of the Isles was taken out of service due to a fault earlier in the week and is not expected back till next week at the earliest - leaving Uist without a service.
Lord of the Isles was withdrawn for repairs to its drencher system, in the hope this will “allow the vessel to remain in service throughout the summer”. It said that it would have little impact because of low usage.
The vessel headed for Greenock on Tuesday and, according to CalMac “is estimated to return to service on May 25 at the earliest.
The state-controlled CalMac apologised and said it was considering moving boats around its network.
But islanders are now facing journeys of more than five hours, involving multiple ferry crossings, to get to the mainland.
Western Isles local authority Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has reacted with anger at Uist being left without a service and demanded that action is taken to bring in an alternative ferry.
It has repeated calls, made by other groups, to bring in Pentland Ferries' MV Pentalina which has been on the market for between £5.6m and £7m - having already successfully tested her with a view to a lease deal.
It can carry up to 350 passengers and 58 cars.
Despite successful berthing trials, Pentland Ferries, which runs a ferry service connecting Orkney to the mainland, decided not to enter into a leasing agreement in the summer of last year, in a dispute over whether it was fit to sail.
The council said that the withdrawal of two ferries has led to the arrival of a scenario that islanders have "feared for so long".
"The community of Uist is left without a ferry service to the mainland with both MV Hebrides withdrawn from her service to Uig on Skye and MV Lord of the Isles in Greenock for repairs rather than on her service from Lochboisdale to Mallaig," it said.
The state-owned ferry operator CalMac is having to handle an ageing ferry fleet with new vessels Glen Sannox and Hull 802 still languishing in Port Glasgow as the costs of their construction have soared from the original £97m contract to at least £250m and delivery is over five years late.
"Islanders have long made clear the need for greater urgency on addressing the need to order new ferries," a council spokesman said.
It said it was seeking urgent action from government to charter the catamaran Pentalina on a charter with the crew provided by Calmac.
"Comhairle nan Eilean Siar do not believe the Western Isles can wait three years or even the two years before 802 is in service to improve summer capacity and are seeking urgent action from government to charter MV Pentalina on a bare boat charter basis with the crew provided by Calmac," a spokesman said, "The vessel is available on this basis and could be in service this Summer. Chartering Pentalina would provide vessel cover in the network for Summer 2022."
Normally South Uist's Lochboisdale to Mallaig crossing is a three hour and 45 minute journey, while North Uist's Lochmaddy to Uig ferry trip takes one hour and 45 minutes.
But now the options available to people wanting to travel from the Uists to the mainland are to travel south and a take a ferry from Eriskay to Castlebay on Barra and then a ferry to Oban. This would involve more than five hours of travelling to get to Oban.
An alternative is to travel north and take a ferry from Bernerary to Harris and then a 56 mile journey by road to Stornoway in Lewis for a ferry to Ullapool - a total journey of almost five hours.
MV Hebrides can carry 612 passengers and 90 cars was due to be replaced by a new ship, one of two dual-fuel vessels at the centre of a ferry-building fiasco that are languishing in Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow on the Clyde.
Hebrides underwent a temporary repair on Thursday to allow the vessel to travel to James Watt Dock in Greenock tonight, which has specialist welding facilities, for permanent repair.
A timescale for return to service will be confirmed once full assessment of required repairs has been carried out.
The disruption has meant that one of the busiest CalMac routes to and from Arran has been reduced to one vessel.
Meanwhile services on the Ardrossan to Campbeltown route will be cancelled from Friday.
Almost 1000 passengers and 338 cars had their bookings on the Lochboisdale to Mallaig ferry service abruptly cancelled as a result of the Lord of the Isles being withdrawn from service for eight days.
In addition, 698 metres of commercial space – equivalent to about 26 trailer-loads – were cancelled, throwing island businesses into disarray.
The council chairman of transportation and infrastructure, Uisdean Robertson said: “The Scottish ferry crisis is being experienced by islanders every day.
"It is not a newspaper headline, it is a harsh reality and we need Government to take decisive steps to secure the future of the islands their ferry contract is supposed to serve. "While our call is for investment in new ferries this is still jam tomorrow. We need to see urgency and it is time for government to put their money where their mouth is in terms of taking short term action. "It is clear finding second hand vessels is difficult but there is one ferry available today that has been tested on a number of routes.
"Both Transport Scotland and Calmac were happy to see MV Pentalina join the fleet on the basis of a crewed charter from Pentland Ferries so there cannot be any reasonable argument for not chartering this vessel on the basis of it being crewed by Calmac.
"Comhairle nan Eilean Siar are calling on Scottish Government to stop making excuses and act now by chartering MV Pentalina."
After the sidelining of MV Hebrides, CalMac said that to protect lifeline services, MV Isle of Arran will be redeployed from the Ardrossan-Brodick-Campbeltown route to cover the Kennacraig-Islay service, with MV Hebridean Isles moving from Islay to cover the Skye Triangle. MV Loch Bhrusda will operate additional sailings will operate on Barra-Eriskay.
MV Caledonian Isles sailings will continue to operate as scheduled, and MV Loch Linnhe will act as a second vessel on the Lochranza/Claonaig route to support services to and from Arran.
The ferry operator said extra capacity is available on the Ullapool-Stornoway route tonight and Sunday night. There will also be an additional passenger sailing on Saturday night.
A spokeswoman for CalMac said: “This is a significant disruption for our communities, and we sincerely apologise for this at what is already a very difficult time for them with the loss of MV Lord of the Isles. Our immediate priority is to ensure lifeline services such as food supplies and urgent medical care can be transported.
“Removing vessels from routes is always a very difficult decision and one we would rather not make, but our options are extremely limited, and this is the only way to protect lifeline services at short notice. This redeployment means that all islands will continue to receive a service during this current disruption.
“We are keeping customers informed and will provide another update as soon as a full assessment of the required repairs has been completed in Greenock.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel