Ferry operator CalMac has defended its record after new figures revealed "spiralling" cancellations impacting lifeline ferry services to island communities.
Official figures state that the Scottish Government-owed ferry operator cancelled 40,989 sailings between September 2018 and April 2023.
Non-weather related cancellations rose from 1,371 in 2017-18 to a peak of 5,805 in 2021-22, before dropping last year.
There were 4,620 sailings axed for reasons not related to the weather in 2022-23 – 237% higher than the number in 2017-18.
Scottish Labour, which has been tracking the data, accused the Scottish Government of incompetence over what it called "spiralling" cancellations.
But CalMac said that the data shows that since May 2017, CalMac has only cancelled a "very small percentage of sailings because of technical failures".
They said more than 95% of all sailings went ahead in the past five years.
“The main reason why sailings are cancelled is due to poor weather, which can happen at any time in the year in the challenging waters off the west coast of Scotland," said a spokesman.
“Regarding cancellations for reasons other than weather or for technical problems, more than 40% of these were Scottish Government-approved and involved vessels being moved around the network so that lifeline services could be preserved.
“More than a third were directly related to the global Covid pandemic, while the rest included pier work being carried out by harbour authorities, and berths not being available.
“We continue to work hard to prevent unscheduled breakdowns and look forward to welcoming ten new vessels to the fleet over the next five years.
“This will have a huge effect on resilience and our ability to provide a quality, reliable services to customers.”
It comes a matter of days after it emerged that further delays are expected in the completion of the two ferries at the centre of Scotland's ferry fiasco after safety regulators demanded new design changes before any approvals are given.
Among the issues to be resolved is the installation of additional staircases on Glen Sannox and Hull 802 in order to satisfy the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which is responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy.
The work means planned sea trials of the Glen Sannox have been delayed until the first quarter of next year.
CalMac had expected Glen Sannox to be handed over in December 2023, and Hull 802 in December 2024. They say that once handed over there will be a two month period where we will carry out crew familiarisation and network trials.
The latest update from the Scottish Government-owned Ferguson Marine shipyard raised further fears that the Glen Sannox would not be available for the start of the 2024 summer season.
David Tydeman, chief executive of the nationalised Inverclyde shipyard firm had previously stated he was optimistic that Glen Sannox should be available to passengers in spring 2024.
The delayed second vessel, only known as Hull 802 which which was supposed to be online in the last reschedule in the autumn of 2024 having already been delayed to the end of March 2024, had been pushed back to November, 2024. The contract backstop was stated as being at the end of December 2024.
Both vessels were due online in the first half of 2018, with one initially to serve Arran and the other to serve the Skye triangle routes to North Uist and Harris, but are at least five years late, with costs expected to be quadruple the original £97m contract. It has been confirmed that both are now to serve Arran.
Labour islands spokeswoman Rhoda Grant said that "spiralling levels of cancellations are a direct result of SNP incompetence".
She added: “For years they have failed to modernise our ferry fleet and now the island communities are paying the price.
“The consequences of this chaos are huge for islanders, who miss hospital appointments and are cut off from loved ones, and they are a hammer blow to businesses.
“The SNP must get a grip of the mess they have made and deliver a national ferry building programme to modernise our lifeline ferry fleet and support Scottish shipbuilding.”
Transport Scotland said providing six new ferries for service across the Clyde and Hebrides network - including four being built in Turkey - was a “priority” for the Scottish Government.
And they said that they were working with CalMac and CMAL, the Scottish Government body which owns the ferries and harbour infrastructure to "improve reliability and resilience".
A spokesman said: “Should there be cancellations to CalMac services due to weather or technical issues, then a full refund will be provided to the customer.
"Statistics show that in 2022, of the 171,403 scheduled sailings across the Clyde and Hebrides ferry service network, 11,301 (6.6%) were cancelled.
“Of these, 1,830 (1.1%) were cancelled due to technical issues.
“We recognise the impact that disruption has regrettably had on our island communities and are fully committed to investing in our ferry services.
“There have been ongoing technical issues with vessels which resulted in delays to last year’s annual overhaul programme and cancellation of sailings.”
The Scottish Government's transport agency said that while some communities had been more greatly impacted than others it had provided £9m in funding to charter the MV Alfred over nine months "which provides additional resilience".
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