ISLAND communities have registered anger that vital summer lifeline ferry timetables have been delayed for up to three months.
Island groups have raised concerns that the summer 2023 schedule operated by state-controlled ferry operator CalMac may not be available for booking until March – a matter of weeks before the new season’s sailings are due to start.
Last year online reservations on the timetable opened in time for Christmas, on December 20, 2021 allowing travellers to make their holiday plans.
Groups have registered frustration that tourist businesses, already impacted by disruption caused by ferry failures, are to be hit yet badly yet again, with some fearing it could be the last straw for some fragile businesses.
CalMac have circulated an apology over the late publication of the timetable, but did not set a date for when it would be available.
Without the timetables, ferry users cannot book ferry trips to islands off the west coast the end of March, when the summer timetable is due to come into effect.
It comes after the Calmac winter timetables were published five months late - leading to widespread concerns over lost bookings and business.
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At the time, the transport minister Jenny Gilruth said there had been a hold up because of arrangements over the closure of Uig harbour on Skye to allow for upgrades over the winter - which sparked a row over island services disruption.
Among those concerns is the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee who have registered their concerns with CalMac, Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government.
They have requested an urgent statement confirming that the summer timetable and associated bookings will be released as soon as possible. "We have highlighted the negative impact these delays will have to all aspects of Arran's residents, businesses and wider economic survival. Delaying until March 2023 is unacceptable. Our fellow island communities feel equally strongly," they said.
Joe Reade, chairman of the Mull & Iona Ferry Committee said: "This will have a big impact on tourist business, because nobody will be able to book their tickets.
"We only got the winter timetable a week before the services started and we were inundated with people cancelling holidays then. Bookings were being lost because there is a perception that touristscannot get here.
"If this happens in the summer, it will be ten times worse."
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Another ferry user group official said: "This may well be the tipping point for businesses who rely on tourism to survive. People have had enough of the issues regarding our ferries and just want solutions, not more problems."
Robin Currie, the leader of Argyll and Bute Council has also protested to CalMac registering "grave concerns" that the late timetables saying it poses "serious risks" to islands' tourism economy.
A email circulated to at least one ferry user group from CalMac transport planning manager Demi Wylie apologised for "the late publication of the summer 2023 timetable".
"We understand the impact this has and for the difficulties this causes to island communities and local businesses," she said.
"We are working hard to publish the timetables as soon as we possibly can, but the late decision surrounding the closure of Uig harbour has delayed the start of the normal timetable community consultation process by a number of months."
"We are still working with communities and Transport Scotland to complete the work required to finalise summer timetables. Delivering timetables is highly complex with interdependencies between routes, berthing availabilities, connecting services and tidal timetable changes in some areas.
"Once finalised staff have to enter and quality control thousands of manual entries."
She said they were on track to launch a new ticketing system in early 2023 which would create "an additional complexity around the release of the summer timetables".
She added: "We want to assure customers we are doing all we can to deliver the timetables as quickly as possible and will announce when they will be available to book as soon as we can."
Robbie Drummond, in response to the concerns repeated the apology.
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