Return of Arran ferry delayed by up to four months

MV Caledonian Isles will return to dry dock for inspection and repairs

An ageing ferry which has not sailed since January last year could be out of service for another four months, operator CalMac has said.

The 32-year-old MV Caledonian Isles was forced out of action 18 months ago, leaving a hole in the timetable for the west coast ferries.

CalMac has now said the vessel will return to dry dock for further repairs - which will likely take between eight weeks and four months - prompting a re-think of the winter timetable.

The repair bill for the ferry, which has been side-lined from the Arran route since January 2024, has already risen to nearly £11m.

Calmac said MV Caledonian Isles will enter drydock in Leith in the coming days for works to repair an issue with "instability in pitch response" - the angle of the propeller blades which is adjustable to help with manoeuvring in port.

The ferry will have the mechanisms that control the pitch of the propellers removed for further investigation.

This will take a minimum of eight weeks including sea trials.

If this doesn't solve the problem - the retrofitting of a new system to improve the accuracy of the pitch control will be attempted. This would take four months.

Duncan Mackison, CalMac CEO, said: "Based on the current prognosis, we could be in a situation where MV Caledonian Isles returns in September in a best-case scenario or November in a worst-case scenario.

"However, we intend to publish winter timetables soon and aim to give communities and customers certainty about service levels and vessel deployment during that period.

"This is a complex process as we need to develop this plan whilst factoring in an annual overhaul schedule that will see a fleet, which is another year older, spend a record of number of days in planned maintenance."

The ferry operator's winter timetable runs from 20 October to 26 March 2026, and its entire fleet undergoes annual maintenance between September and May each year.

Ardrossan loses its ferry again

The prolonged absence of MV Caledonian, which normally sails from Ardrossan, means the North Ayrshire port will once again be left without any ferry service.

The service to Brodick on Arran was suspended in January after the introduction of the new ferry Glen Sannox, which is too big to fit the facilities at Ardrossan and sails instead from Troon, about 15 miles down the coast.

Sailings from Ardrossan were briefly restored earlier this month when the 41-year-old ship MV Isle of Arran was redeployed to the port, but those sailings will end this week when it is moved again, to the Islay route.

Campaigners in Ardrossan have complained that the town is facing economic damage as many businesses rely on people who use the ferry.

The Scottish government is looking to take the port into public ownership so that deadlocked plans to redevelop it for larger vessels can move forward.

Ports and ferries agency CMAL is handling the buyout negotiations with the private owner Peel Ports, but the two sides are said to be struggling to agree on a price.