Concern raised over prolonged Lochboisdale ferry cancellations

The Lochboisdale – Mallaig/Oban route has been cancelled from March 6 to March 31 because of an issue with the MV Clansman.

 

The latest disruption to the Western Isles ferries has been condemned by a Na h-Eileanan an Iar MSP.

 

Engineers working on MV Clansman in dry dock discovered a substantial amount of steelwork which needed replaced, delaying the vessel’s return to service by three weeks.

 

CalMac has amended the Sound of Barra service four days per week to provide inbound and outbound connections via Castlebay in an effort to mitigate some of the impact of the prolonged disruption.

 

Commenting following the news of the cancellations on the Lochboisdale route, SNP MSP Alasdair Allan said: 'After recent severe disruption on routes across the ferry network caused by difficult weather and technical issues, the news of additional and complex repairs being needed on another of CalMac’s ferries is the last thing islanders wanted to hear.

 

'One vessel being out of action unfortunately has an immediate knock-on effect on ferry services due to the lack of relief vessels.

 

'Local businesses and individuals in Uist will suffer significant inconvenience as a result of this prolonged cancellation period.

 

'As some of my constituents in Uist have pointed out there are other routes which will be being served by two vessels throughout the three-week period where Lochboisdale won’t have any. I can appreciate and share their frustration over this point.

 

'Resilience in the ferry fleet needs to be improved to prevent situations such as this from continuing to arise. Local communities are enduring unacceptable disruptions to what are meant to be lifeline services.'

 

Meanwhile the ferry operator has apologised for any disruption to services.

 

Robbie Drummond, managing director of CalMac, said: 'I would like to extend my apologies to all customers affected by this cancellation, which is due to unexpected delays to our statutory dry dock programme.

 

'The main issue has been the discovery of a substantial amount of steelwork needing to be replaced on MV Clansman which has delayed her return by three weeks and, in turn, delaying the dry docking of MV Hebrides.

 

'We are doing our utmost to minimise the disruption that this will cause and we are working with the community to ensure their priorities around the transportation of goods and services are understood and supported.

 

'Unfortunately, there are limited options when it comes to maintaining a disrupted service. At times, this means we have to make the difficult decision to cancel or split services across multiple islands.

 

'Our team will work hard to reduce the impact on our customers but the lack of alternative vessels available to CalMac continues to present a challenge.'

 

CalMac have said that they will provide an update for March 26-31 once they have completed their further exploration of options for this period.