ISLANDERS will get a greater say in running Scotland's ferry network amid concerns repeated breakdowns are causing "significant economic damage" to the communities they serve.
Caledonian MacBrayne services have been hit by a series of delays and cancellations to the service run by due to its increasing age and unreliability.
Islay, Harris and Uist have already been particularly badly hit by disruption with one of two ferries that normally serve the island of Islay withdrawn to work on the Tarbert and Lochmaddy routes.
The disruption has been caused by “complications” to the repair of one its ferries, which will mean it will “now be out of service for longer than first anticipated.”
READ MORE: Island campaigners demand urgent solution to ferry disruption
Now the body that represents the communities served by CalMac will be given a prominent role in running the network after expressing their “frustration” with the economic damage being done.
CalMac has agreed to work with the board in formulating a plan which will help to protect the lifeline ferry services. It will cover areas such as fleet resilience, maintenance and chartering or buying additional vessels to ensure the service is maintained at full capacity.
The creation of the twelve member, independent board was a key element of the company’s winning bid for the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service contract in 2016.
At recent meetings in Largs and Millport, the board voiced their anger at the service to Cal Mac’s managing director, Robbie Drummond and other members of the company’s management team.
Angus Campbell, Chairman of CalMac Community Board, said:”Overwhelmingly the main concern was that measures being taken to deal with a recent vessel breakdown are failing to prevent major disruption bringing significant economic damage and having a detrimental impact on individual and families life.
"Cuts in timetabled sailings, deployment of vessels with inadequate capacities and inability to book even available space in some cases are all adversely impacting communities’ and the sustainability of local businesses.
“Robbie Drummond has accepted the offer and a small group of community board members has been identified to start working with CalMac, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (which owns the ferries) and Transport Scotland as soon as possible".
It comes after CalMac said that normal services on some of its west coast routes will not return to normal until May 31.
READ MORE: Island campaigners demand urgent solution to ferry disruption
The popular route from Mallaig to Skye has been hit by more than 125 cancellations in just 25 days after CalMac’s decision to remove a ferry from the route in March to help other parts of the service.
The resulting delays and cancellations have led to island businesses reporting a substantial drop in visitors compared to the same period last year.
It comes after CalMac said services on some of its west coast routes will not return to normal until May 31, although this was yesterday revised to a week before - May 23.
The popular route from Mallaig to Skye has been hit by more than 125 cancellations in just 25 days after CalMac’s decision to remove a ferry from the route last month to help other parts of the service.
Cal Mac yesterday revealed that it has handled more than 12,500 calls during the last five days which is five times the normal rate.
Managing director, Robbie Drummond, said: “Staff are working overtime to reassign bookings on to the amended timetable and deal with new customer reservations”.
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