BIDDERS for the new Gourock-Dunoon ferry service will have to provide larger vessels on the route to reduce the number of services cancelled by poor weather.
Transport Scotland said operators will be expected to retain the current half-hourly frequency and to deploy vessels measuring least 40 metres (131ft) on the new 12-year contract, which is due to begin in June 2017.
Transport Minister Humza Yousef said this would "help address the current issue of reliability on the service, and offer greater resilience during periods of adverse weather".
The route is currently served by the MV Argyll Flyer, measuring 26 metres (85ft), and a motor catamaran, MV Ali Cat, measuring 19 metres (62ft).
There were 705 weather-related cancellations in the six months to the end of April 2016 - equivalent to around 27 per week - from a total of 9,528 scheduled sailings.
The service is currently operated by Argyll Ferries, a subsidiary of Scottish Government-owned, David MacBrayne Ltd - the parent company behind CalMac.
Bidders will also be "encouraged" to operate a commercial vehicle-carrying service, alongside the publicly-funded passenger ferry service.
It comes after controversy in 2011 when Transport Scotland scrapped the car ferry in favour of a passenger-only service for the route.
A private vehicle-passenger ferry service is operated between Gourock and Dunoon by Western Ferries, departing from McInroy's Point, around 2km (1.2 miles) from Gourock town centre.
Mr Yousaf said: “We want this new contract to provide greater support to the communities that rely on this important transport link. By bringing more resilient vessels to the route and continuing to invest in harbour infrastructure, we hope to make tangible improvements to the service and continue to support the economies in Argyll and Bute and Inverclyde.”
Interested parties will be invited to submit formal tenders later this summer.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel