CalMac's plan to charter extra ferry abandoned after trials

Ben-My-Chree, during its berthing trial at Brodick

A plan to charter a large ship from the Isle of Man to help relieve pressure on Scotland's west coast ferry services this winter has been abandoned.

Ferry operator CalMac carried out a berthing trial with MV Ben-My-Chree on its Arran route but confirmed it had been unsuccessful.

The ship, which is owned by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, managed to berth at both Troon and Brodick but safety margins at Brodick were too tight to proceed with the charter plan.

CalMac had hoped to hire the ship to improve resilience this winter when a number of its large ferries could be out of service for repairs or scheduled maintenance.

en-My-Chree - which means "girl of my heart" in the Manx language - is currently used as a back-up vessel for Isle of Man ferry services after a new ship, the Manxman, arrived last year.

The 125m (410ft) ship is available for charter to other operators subject to a service agreement which Bmeans it can be recalled with four days' notice in emergencies.

But Ben-My-Chree, which is wider than CalMac ships that normally operate on the Arran route, had some difficulty berthing at Brodick.

The ferry was found to be too wide to safely use the berth at Brodick

CalMac's interim chief executive Duncan Mackison said: "Whilst the vessel berthed successfully, we were at the very edge of the limits it was safe to operate to, and we’d be relying on completely benign conditions to berth regularly.

"Given the conditions at this time of year it is not safe, or sensible, for the service to try and operate this way.

"Preliminary work indicated the vessel may be suitable for Troon-Brodick and eliminated all other routes. But the only way we could know with certainty was to carry out these trials."

CalMac said there was "no immediate negative impact" on it services as a result of the trials not working out, and it would continue to explore options for chartering extra ferry capacity.

Challenging winter

CalMac has said it faces a very challenging winter, and a charter of Ben-My-Chree would have freed up a vessel from the Arran route to maintain services elsewhere.

The main Arran ferry, MV Caledonian Isles, has been out of action since February and repairs to a new fault with a gearbox are expected to take at least another fortnight.

MV Hebridean Isles is due to be retired next month as it needs recertification and it is not considered feasible to maintain the ship any longer.

Other large vessels in the CalMac fleet will also have to be withdrawn for scheduled annual maintenance over the winter.

The dual-fuel ship Glen Sannox, being built at the Ferguson shipyard, was due to be handed over two weeks ago, but a revised delivery date has yet to be confirmed.

The first of four new ferries being built in Turkey has also been delayed and will not arrive until next February.

The last time a new large ship was provided to CalMac by ferries procurement firm CMAL was in 2015, when Loch Seaforth was delivered.

Many of the ships in the CalMac fleet are now well beyond their expected service life. In some cases they are so old that spare parts are no longer available and have to be specially manufactured.