Ferry firm suffers passenger drop

Highland Correspondent

Saturday 13 October 2012

Fewer passengers used Scottish ferry services last year as a result of the economic downturn, higher fuel costs and poor weather.

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David Ross Highland Correspondent

However, Caledonian MacBrayne's parent company managed to increase its profits and pay nearly £6 million back to the Scottish Government despite a significant drop in cars and passengers using its ferries.

While its subsidy was increased by 20%, the company insists that was to pay for the increased price of fuel and the Scottish Government's Road Equivalent Tariff (RET) cheap ferry scheme to the Western Isles.

The details are revealed in David MacBrayne Group's annual report for 2011/12.The group embraces CalMac's Clyde and Hebrides services, Argyll Ferries operation between Gourock and Dunoon, and did also cover NorthLink's Orkney and Shetland routes, until Serco took over that contract in July, which is recognised as a low point in the report.However, the group paid back £5.8m to the Government, the publicly-owned company's shareholder, as a result of an increase in efficiency savings of 33% in the last financial year. It also managed to increase its operating profitability by 19% to £3.8m. The three different ferry operations carried 5.2 million passengers, 1.1 million cars and 1.5 million freight metres – a 5% decrease in passengers and the same for cars, but a 6% increase in freight, on the previous year. Weather, fuel costs and the recession are cited as reasons.Subsidy received from the Government rose by nearly 20% compared with the previous year to £121.8m.Group chairman Peter Timms said: "As recipients of significant amounts of public funding, we take our responsibility to provide value for money to the taxpayer very seriously so it was very pleasing to report our ongoing efforts to improve efficiency both internally and in collaboration with colleagues at Transport Scotland has resulted in just under £6m being returned to the Scottish Government as part of a contractual 'clawback' payment." Mr Timms said 2011/2012 had been "a year of highs and lows". Despite persistent local criticism of the service, he said one of the high points had been winning the tender to provide the ferry service between Gourock and Dunoon.However, he added: "Losing the Northern Isles services to another operator after serving Orkney and Shetland for nearly 10 years was a major disappointment ."Mr Timms said the drop in passenger and car traffic was disappointing: "These figures reflect carryings across the group, and the impact on individual routes will vary enormously, with some doing better than others depending on local circumstances, such as major building projects."

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Ferry firm suffers passenger drop

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