ISLANDERS were hit with further services 'mayhem' as CalMac scrambled to find a resolution to a a suspension of services to and from South Uist which have lasted almost a week.
Services remained suspended to and from South Uist on Friday as MV Lord of the Isles was withdrawn for repairs to be carried out in dry dock at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead.
It has emerged that it will remain out of action over the weekend, and CalMac have drafted in MV Clansman - causing knock-on disruption to other services.
With the October school holiday arriving for much of Scotland, the 24-year-old vessel will provide a much-reduced service but the first sailings in nearly a week on the island. It will provided a one way service from Oban rather than Mallaig at 3.40pm and the return journey won't be till 7.15am the next day.
It has meant that all sailings to and from Colonsay and Islay on Sunday will be cancelled and services to Coll and Tiree will suffer further disruption.
CalMac further said that at 2pm that services to and from the island of Gigha was suspended because of issues with 35-year-old MV Loch Ranza's generator. It is at least the eighth that has been sidelined since the weekend.
The continuing absences of MV Lord of the Isles caused further disruption to services to Barra and Eriskay on Friday and this is expected to continue into Saturday.
CalMac said: "We are in the process of contacting all customers who will be affected by this disruption.
"Disrupting a sailing is a decision we do not take lightly because we know it will inconvenience our customers and the communities we serve. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson has been calling on the SNP government to intervene to resolve the continuing ferry crisis.
“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," he said.
One ferry user group official said the latest issues were causing islanders to "despair".
"I don't know what South Uist has done to deserve the issues it has, but this is turning into mayhem for them and they just cannot trust when a ferry is every going to be, never mind on time, but actually arrive," he said.
One ferry user said they had to cut their holiday short to deal with the issues.
"Ferry to Eriskay/South Uist then drive to Lochmaddy in North Uist, another ferry to Uig in Skye then 230 miles back to Glasgow,"he said. "We were lucky many couldn’t get on the small ferry to Eriskay."
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.
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.
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.
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