LIFELINE ferry services suffered another day of turmoil with two vessels remaining out of action bringing a further sailing suspension and other cancellations.
Seven vessels have been hit by breakdowns since the weekend with further services hit on Thursday.
Services remained suspended to and from South Uist on Thursday and is expected to continue tomorrow as MV Lord of the Isles was withdrawn for repairs to steelwork to be carried out in dry dock at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead.
Meanwhile a problem the 19-year-old MV Coruisk's capstan meant a raft of sailings were cancelled yesterday on the Mallaig to Armadale on Skye crossing. At noon yesterday, CalMac said that all sailings on MV Coruisk had been cancelled for the remainder of the day. Further disruption is expected on Friday.
Scottish Government-owned ferry operator CalMac said that due to "operational reasons relating to a technical issue impacting vessels elsewhere in the network" two other sailings between Ardmhor on Barra and the island of Eriskay were cancelled on Thursday evening.
Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson said the SNP government needed to intervene to resolve the continuing ferry crisis.
Transport Scotland said the transport minister Jenny Gilruth has convened two resilience meetings this week with local communities to ensure they were kept up to date with the situation
Mr Simpson said “It’s shameful that seven CalMac ferries have been hit by faults and suspensions in just a few days – and the blame lies squarely at the feet of the SNP Government.
“The SNP have failed to procure desperately-needed replacement ferries and refused to commit adequate long-term funding for Scotland’s ferry provision. It’s no wonder breakdowns are soaring in Scotland’s aging and increasingly unreliable fleet.
“Every single cancellation and delay has a huge impact on the island communities that depend on these lifeline ferry links – and this latest series of faults is particularly harmful, coming in the middle of the school half-term holiday.
“Island businesses that were counting on a tourism boost this week have been betrayed, and ordinary families across Scotland’s islands are once again facing levels of disruption that simply wouldn’t be allowed to happen in the Central Belt.
“The way that islanders are being treated by this SNP Government is an injustice and a disgrace. The Nationalists must now urgently deliver the new ferries we need or the breakdowns, delays and disruption will only get worse.”
Issues with MV Lord of the Isles which has seen services to South Uist suspended since the weekend - have led to it being withdrawn completely till at least Friday.
On Monday services to and from Barra, South Uist, Mull, Islay and Dunoon were disrupted with MV Isle of Lewis, MV Lord of the Isles, MV Finlaggan, MV Loch Linnhe and Argyll Flyer all taken out of action after a series of problems from Sunday night.
On Tuesday it emerged that the services cancellations had spread to Islay since caused by issues with MV Hebridean Isles' bilge system. The vessel had been brought in on Monday morning to support services in Uist after other vessel failures. The issues were fixed on Wednesday.
While MV Clansman was re-routed in to help Barra and Mull sailings in wake of the latest wave, that led to services to Coll, Tiree being suspended on Tuesday. Also suspended were services to Colonsay and Islay.
Services to and from South Uist remained suspended on Thursday and services are expected to be disrupted again on Friday.
CalMac said: "We are currently looking at alternative options for travel.
"Customers impacted by these cancellations will be contacted to discuss alternative sailings..."
They said passengers who are able to do so can travel by foot to use the services to Lochmaddy on North Uist - 42 miles away from South Uist's Lochboisdale port. "Our teams will do everything they can to assist, however depending on demand and availability transport connections cannot be guaranteed.
"Cancelling sailings is a decision we do not take lightly, and we understand the impact it has on our customers and the communities we serve. We apologise for the inconvenience caused and our team is working hard to minimise the impact to our customers. "
Alasdair Allan, the SNP MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar has previously raised his frustration and said he was meeting transport minister Jenny Gilruth to discuss the ongoing issues.
Lochboisdale, the port which links South Uist to the mainland had been out of action to ferries between September 24 and October 8 to allow for repairs to the linkspan used by the ferry.
South Uist was told that it while losing services and that extra services would operate additional to Lochmaddy, in North Uist - 42 miles away.
A routine annual inspection by specialist engineers and Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), which owns the ferry terminal, had revealed a number of lifting ropes on the linkspan which need to be replaced at the earliest opportunity. Last year’s inspections showed no issues.
Last week it emerged that that alternative route for people to Lochmaddy was being hit with cancellations by further concerns over safety due to pier works and adverse weather.
CalMac had continued to warn users that the works associated with a £15.3m pier upgrade which restrict vessel movement in the harbour area can be cancelled at short notice.
It told users to expect further disruption with an amended timetable on Tuesday.
In April, George Leslie Ltd began replacing the existing infrastructure at the west coast ferry terminal to cater for a new fleet of vessels.
In August, Uist islanders complained that shops had to ration essential items amid widespread ferry cancellations.
It came after the loss of MV Hebrides, one of CalMac’s oldest ferries, which was taken out of service on Tuesday for a third time in a matter of weeks because of an issue with its CO2 firefighting system - which is a safety issue.
The state-owned ferry operator CalMac is having to handle an ageing ferry fleet with new vessels Glen Sannox and Hull 802 still languishing in Port Glasgow as the costs of their construction have soared from the original £97m contract to at least £250m and delivery is over five years late.
Seventeen of CalMac's 35 working ferries deployed across Scotland are now over 25 years old.
The oldest in the CalMac fleet is the Isle of Cumbrae which is 46-years old.
Meanwhile the much delayed Glen Sannox and as-yet-unnamed Hull 802 are due to be delivered to serve island communities in 2023 and early 2024 at a potential cost of nearly £350m – over three-and-a-half times the initial £97 million contract.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “CalMac has outlined contingency plans for the outage and is communicating these to customers. We thank affected passengers for their patience and flexibility, particularly hauliers who have accommodated changes to increase car spaces.
“We recognise the importance of ferry services to island communities and the many different challenges islanders face when carrying out their daily lives. That’s why we’ve invested to provide additional capacity on the Clyde and Hebrides routes. We are also continuing to work on procuring more vessels, while the four new ferries we have ordered are being built.”
It said that CalMac is working to re-book passengers on alternative services, or offer cancellation for those no longer wishing to travel.
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