"Unbelievable” – South Uist’s latest ferry shambles

The return of the MV Hebrides from drydock has been delayed

South Uist has been dealt a further blow after another CalMac ferry, the MV Hebrides, was detained in drydock for two more weeks due to a fault having been found with its bow visor.

A CalMac manager apologised for “the current and unique pressure on vessel availability” following a series of failures within the ageing fleet have caused severe disruption for travellers to and from South Uist and Barra.

The latest development means that Lochboisdale will continue to be served until mid-April by the MV Isle of Mull which has a passenger carrying capacity limited to just 45 because of safety issues.

John Daniel Peteranna of South Uist Business Impact Group described the situation as “unbelievable” and criticised CalMac for not moving ferries around in order to ease disruption on the Oban-Lochboisdale route.

Mr Petranna said: “People have booked far in advance to get away for Easter holidays or to come into the island via Oban. Now everything is even more uncertain and there will be further damage to a very fragile economy.

“Basically, nobody can plan for anything because of the uncertainty. South Uist has suffered five years of reputational damage due to the Scottish Government’s failure to provide reliable transport links with the mainland”.

The latest tale of woe came from CalMac area manager for the Outer Hebrides,,David Hamill,who wrote that “the need for additional repairs has been identified during MV Hebrides annual overhaul.

“This means that she will be delayed in dry dock and is now expected to return to service on 16 April. An issue was identified with the vessel's bow visor and a repair plan has now been put in place”.

Mr Hamill continued: “MV Isle of Mull will continue to operate Oban-Lochboisdale until MV Hebrides returns to service. This is due to MV Lord of the Isles relieving MV Clansman, which is in turn relieving MV Hebrides.

“MV Lord of the Isles will not return to service on Oban - Lochboisdale for the period of 9 - 22 April as expected. Traffic for this period will be displaced. We will work through traffic prioritisation as quickly as possible.”

He added: “When I met with the South Uist Business Impact Group in February, I said that I would seek whether it was possible to provide additional vessel capacity for South Uist while MV Isle of Mull operates with a reduced capacity. I am sorry but it has not been possible to provide this due to the current and unique pressure on vessel availability”.

At present, the MV Isle of Mull is covering both the Barra and South Uist links with the mainland due to yet another vessel, the MV Isle of Lewis, having its maintenance period in drydock extended after a fault was found in its main engine. The ship is now due to return to the Barra route on Monday.

The South Uist Business Impact Group had already summoned Ministers, MSPs and councillors to attend a “crisis summit” on the island on April 15th, to address the economic damage being done by repeated ferry failures.

Mr Peteranna said: “We have no confidence that anything will change until there is a fundamental reform of governance which replaces Scottish Government quangos with an organisation that is controlled by, accountable to, the people who live in these islands”.