Anger grows at latest CalMac ferry disruption

Island communities have reacted with anger and dismay at fresh disruption to Scotland's west coast ferry network.

The state-owned CalMac has been forced into making alterations due to delays in routine overhauls of some ferries and technical issues affecting others.

Islanders fear tourism and other businesses are being damaged, while one couple have seen their wedding plans thrown into disarray.

New Transport Minister Kevin Stewart said disruption was regrettable.

But he stressed islands remained open for business and CalMac was doing everything possible to ease the situation.

CalMac, which earlier this month warned of a challenging two years due to its ageing fleet, has apologised to its customers.

It is having to redeploy ferries from their usual routes to cover other services.

But problems have affected CalMac services for a number of years due to breakdowns, a lack of spare vessels and delays to constructing new ferries.

Services to Islay, Arran, Coll and Tiree and the Small Isles are among those affected by changes announced by CalMac on Wednesday.

The service between Mallaig/Oban and Lochboisdale, in South Uist, is one of the worst hit. It is due to be cancelled for five weeks from 5 April.

Darren Taylor, chief executive of South Uist community company Stòras Uibhist, said the island's community was in a state of shock at the plan.

He said: "We have had ongoing problems for a very long time with CalMac but this is absolutely beyond the pale. It's outrageous."

Mr Taylor said the cancellation of the Lochboisdale service would come at the start of the tourist season, with the island's tourism industry still trying to recover from the Covid pandemic.

Stòras Uibhist chairwoman Mary Schmoller said the situation amounted to "staggering incompetence".

She said islanders had been warning of the impacts of ferry disruption on island life for years.

"Food doesn't arrive on time so you are not sure that you are going to find anything in the shops, and you cannot make short time decisions to just go off and visit your nephew or your son," she said.

She added: "The impact on tourism has been horrific."

Ms Schmoller said hotels and B&Bs were already getting calls from guests cancelling because they had experienced similar ferry problems on previous visits.

Another Uist resident, Donna Young, said it felt like there were issues with ferries almost every week.

She said: "Travel has become so difficult in Uist it has got to a point where we just cannot rely on our service any more.

"It's having a huge impact on our community, impact on businesses, on our food and medication.

"I don't think people quite understand until they have experienced it."

For the islands of Coll and Tiree in the Inner Hebrides, the switch from the winter timetable to the summer one and its more frequent sailings has been delayed by a month.

This has hit islanders Jane Ham and Graham Griffiths' wedding plans.

They have been preparing their big day in Glasgow on Saturday 8 April for more than two years, and specifically picked a date to avoid the winter timetable.

Ms Ham said: "It now means guests who were due to come off Coll on the Friday have had to either rebook on an earlier ferry, which hasn't been possible in all cases, or it means an extra night or two nights' accommodation.

"There are some guests who cannot leave their jobs early to get off for the wedding so, at the moment, it looks like they cannot come."

Ruth MacEwen, a community councillor on Muck in the Small Isles, said her island faced losing a Saturday service because a ferry was to be redeployed to another route.

She said: "Our community is completely dismayed and frustrated.

"Saturday is the most important day of the week for the Small Isles islands, with it being changeover day for visitor accommodation for many businesses.

"We are highly concerned for our visitors whom have booked their holiday cottage, booked their ferry, and now have no means of getting here."

In Holyrood on Thursday, Transport Minister Kevin Stewart said Transport Scotland was confident CalMac was doing everything possible to bring ferries back into service from overhauls, and was also highlighting to customers where there was capacity on other routes.

He said: "We recognise the real challenges being faced and regret the disruption this is causing to island communities.

"It is very important to note islands remain open for business."

Transport Scotland said the Scottish government had invested more than £2bn it ferry services since 2007, and had outlined plans to invest about £700m in a five-year plan to improve ferry infrastructure.

A spokesman said some communities had been more greatly impacted by disruption than others.

He added: "We share the desires of island communities for sustainable and effective ferry services and look forward to continuing our constructive engagement with them on future services and vessel replacements."