Cancellations after MV Isle of Mull deployment

CalMac today announced it was sending the MV Isle Of Mull to cover for MV Lord of The Isles that is still being repaired.

MV Isle of Mull’s deployment means some key sailings will be absent from the timetable, impacting "many people, including school children" said Mull & Iona Ferry Committee (MIFC) passing on the news via its Facebook page.

"We are asking that this happens for the shortest possible time, and that mitigations are put in place wherever possible," said a MIFC spokesperson.

An update to MIFC from CalMac said the issue with the Lord Of the Isles since last Tuesday, affecting sailings between Lochboisdale/Mallaig and Oban, had caused massive backlog in passengers trying to use the service,  despite  best efforts to alleviate it.

The CalMac update said: "Unfortunately, we are at the point now, where we must support this route with another vessel which will be the Isle Of Mull as there is no viable alternative due to capacity and berthing availability.

"As you know the network is stretched at the moment with a number of other vessels out of service and unavailable, we have no choice but to do this, and this decision has not been taken lightly by anyone.

"We appreciate this will cause major issues, but we currently do not have any choice but to support this route as this has had disruption now for 6 days.

"We are still awaiting a repair timeline on the Lord of the Isles, and should we get her back sooner we’ll restore the planned cancellations."