Sound of Harris left high and dry for months
Failure in the transport sector is the biggest threat to the Western Isles economy, Donald Mackinnon MSP told a Holyrood debate on Tuesday – as he took the opportunity to highlight the Sound of Harris issue.
Mr Mackinnon said: “From April to July, 214 sailings on the Sound of Harris crossing were cancelled due to technical reasons.
The ageing MV Loch Portain was out of action for months this spring as she was being re-engined.
“She returned to service in mid-May, but by July a vibration issue with her gearboxes had been identified and she was removed from service again. Now island communities are being told that she will not be back before the end of the summer timetable in October.
“Only one other vessel in the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet can operate that route: the MV Loch Bhrusda. When she has been required to cover other services, no vessel at all has been able to service the Sound of Harris.
"Thankfully, the MV Glen Sannox, a welcome addition to the fleet, has been able to operate sailings from Lochmaddy in North Uist to Tarbert, with a passenger charter vessel operating across the sound.
“However, that arrangement has meant that businesses in the South Harris port of Leverburgh and the island of Berneray have been completely bypassed by vehicle traffic travelling through the islands. The start and end of their visitor season have been marked by intense periods of ferry disruption”.
Mr Mackinnon continued: “To add insult to injury, the £10 million islands business resilience fund that the First Minister came to the Western Isles to announce during the election campaign, which he said would be delivered within 20 days of forming a Government, turned into a £3 million fund to be delivered within 100 days, with the rest to be available over the next five years.
“That is not what island businesses were promised, and it is not what they need.
"They were promised compensation for the disruption that has already happened to their businesses — not a promise that they should expect more chaos in the future, but that it will be okay because there is £7 million left to cover it.”
CalMac have said that the much smaller ‘Loch Bhrusda’ will return to the Sound of Harris when the ‘Glen Sannox’ ends its Lochmaddy-Tarbert relief duties on September 27th, leaving a very tenuous inter-island link.
Councillor Uisdean Robertson, chair of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s transportation committee, told the Gazette that he attended a meeting with CMAL on Monday but there was no information about a permanent Sound of Harris replacement vessel.
“Of course we had argued for it to be in the first phase of the Small Vessel Replacement Programme but we had no voice at the table. Now we have no idea at all when it might appear which is a major concern in South Harris and obviously Berneray.
“We have no idea where the tendering is (for the second phase of the programme) or the due diligence. There is nothing at the moment”.