Businesses are paying the price for poor ferries, say Mull residents

Joe Reade and his wife run a bakery on Mull

Businesses on Mull are being left to cover the costs of ferry disruption to their island, residents have said.

A public audit committee report said island communities had been failed by the project to build two new CalMac ferries. They are now five years late and massively over budget.

While these vessels were never intended to serve Mull, the condition of the fleet impacts routes on Scotland's west coast.

Residents have told BBC Scotland they want the Scottish Government accept they have made mistakes and begin dialogue with island communities on how best to serve them.

Naomi Knight and her family run construction and marine services firms on Mull, which employ about 300 people.

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She told BBC Scotland: "We've had trucks booked on the ferry, only to be turned away due to capacity issues, this means the driver is has to sit about for three or four hours.

"You often can't then pass these costs onto customers, they're not going to pay for an extra five hours work because we couldn't get on a ferry.

"We're in the midst of a ferry crisis in the west coast of Scotland. It is so bad people are being driven away."

Naomi said it was "imperative" that ferry services are "efficient and functional".

Naomi Knight said Island businesses are being hit with extra costs due to ferry disruption.

Three CalMac services currently sail to Mull. The busiest is the Oban to Craignure route.

It has been hit by a spate of cancellations in recent months after its main vessel, the MV Isle of Mull suffered a series of faults.

Joe Reade operates a bakery business from the island and chairs the Mull and Iona ferry committee.

He highlighted the social impact of disrupted crossings. He told BBC Scotland how a friend had leave the island at 05:00 to attend a 11:00 hospital appointment, as this was the only sailing that had space.

"A 30 minute hospital appointment becomes a 12-hour day," Joe said.

"We're losing trust in the Scottish Government's ability to manages the agencies involved.

He said the current ferries are simply "too small and too slow" to serve the island.

Further delay

He added: "We aren't asking for more money to be spent, we are just asking for the money to be spent more wisely."

"Islanders have been saying what is needed for years, we just need people to listen."

The public audit committee report said taxpayers and island communities had been badly let down by many of those involved in the project to build the two ferries - the Glen Sannox and the currently unnamed hull 802.

The ferries are meant to serve island communities on CalMac routes in the west of Scotland, but are still not ready despite their price tag nearly tripling to almost £300m.

It emerged last week that both ferries have been hit by a further delay, with the Glen Sannox now not ready until the autumn rather than May of this year and hull 802 now due to enter service in the autumn of 2024 instead of March of that year.

The Scottish government said it "welcomes the report" and would "study its findings carefully before issuing a full response to the committee."