A LIFELINE ferry service had to be halted after an engine failure with a vessel that is due to be phased out.
The issues with 30-year-old MV Loch Tarbert led to a suspension of services between Sconser on the island of Skye and the Isle of Raasay after disruption began at around 1pm on Tuesday.
The cancellations continued to run into Tuesday morning while the issues were investigated.
State-owned ferry operator CalMac says an engineer was due to attend the vessel on Tuesday morning.
The ferry operator said: "Cancelling a sailing is a decision we do not take lightly because we know it will inconvenience our customers and the communities we serve. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
CalMac said at around 10.39am on Tuesday that the engine had been fixed and services were due to resume with at 10.55am.
It comes as South Uist has lost services for 11 days after a critical safety concern with its main port.
Lochboisdale, the port which links South Uist to the mainland was out of action to ferries from September 24 to allow for repairs to the linkspan used by vessels.
The repairs are due to be completed on Saturday (October 8).
During the closure period, CalMac have operated additional services to Lochmaddy, in North Uist - 42 miles away.
It is the latest in a series of disruptions to hit the South Uist's ferry services.
In August, islanders complained that shops had to ration essential items amid widespread ferry cancellations.
The latest disruption has had a spin off effect with disruption on the service between Uig on Skye and Tarbert on the island of Harris as MV Hebrides was redeployed.
MV Loch Tarbert is one of seven vessels that are due to be replaced over the next nine years.
Last year, German ship design consultants were handed £360,000 to help with the concept for a batch of seven new ferries to to try to provide better and greener lifeline services for Scotland's islands.
Flensburg-based Navalue, which was formed three years ago, was brought in to help provide planning direction for a project to create several small vehicle and passengers vessels to replace some of the country's oldest vessels on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services network, including MV Loch Tarbertt.
After 1973, when the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. acquired most of the ferries and routes and began joint Clyde and West Highland operations under the new name of Caledonian MacBrayne, the official expected life of a ferry had been 20 years.
That is until 2002, three years after the 1999 devolution when the then Scottish Government-owned Caledonian MacBrayne which then owned the fleet and procured vessels, extended the 'working life' from 20 years to 25 years.
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