A SINGLE VESSEL will now operate on the Dunoon – Gourock CalMac ferry route for the foreseeable future and community leaders have hit out at Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government for not doing enough to improve the service. Earlier this week it was confirmed that only one boat will run on the Clyde for the next few months.
On Monday morning an official statement from CalMac explained that ‘urgent repairs’ to MV Argyll Flyer had to be carried out as an issue had developed with the vessel’s exhaust and a single vessel service will now remain on the Dunoon to Gourock route.
The Flyer was due to return to service on Tuesday, April 1, but the route will now be operated solely by MV Ali Cat, for the next few months.
Its understood that testing showed that under certain conditions the Flyer’s exhaust gas exceeded workplace safety limits, although there was no indication anyone travelling on the vessel was at any risk.
A CalMac spokeswoman said: “The health and safety of our crew and customers is our number one priority and it is important that the exhaust is fixed so that they are not exposed to unacceptable levels of exhaust fumes. We understand that only having one vessel on the Gourock to Dunoon route will be inconvenient to our customers and we are sorry about this.”
They added: “Unfortunately, there is not another vessel we can move to this route, and we will not have any spare during this period. Repairs will be carried out as quickly as possible and we will update customers once these have been successfully completed.”
In a letter to Dunoon Community Council, (DCC), members, Donna Lockhart, CalMac’s area manager for Clyde South, explained that the repairs to the Flyer will be extensive.
She wrote: “Scoping a repair plan is underway, but this is likely to require modification to the vessel and the anticipated time to design the modification, get regulatory approval and carry out the work is likely to be months rather than weeks.
She added: “Now we have entered our summer timetable period, our full fleet is deployed, and we have no spare vessels. We have explored the charter market but have not come across any suitable options there either. Due to crew hours of rest, the daily 1015 sailing from Gourock and the 1045 from Dunoon will be cancelled each day and the 2240 from Gourock and the 2310 from Dunoon on Tuesdays. In addition to these sailings, the 1115 from Gourock and the 1145 from Dunoon will be cancelled on a Monday and Friday. This is to allow essential maintenance to be carried out while MV Ali Cat is operating a single vessel timetable. Replacement bus services will operate for these cancelled sailings.”
This isn’t the first time CalMac have had to revert to a single vessel service. Back in 2021 the Flyer was taken off the route after it developed problems with its new engine and propeller, which resulted in the vessel being out of action for seven months.
The news of the temporary single vessel service comes just weeks after it was announced that Transport Scotland is to axe three sailings a day from the route and this latest development has frustrated DCC who issued the following statement: “Once again, Dunoon and the wider community in Cowal and Inverclyde are left to suffer old, semi obsolete vessels that are not up to the requirements of the Gourock / Dunoon passenger service, yet we see tens of millions being spent elsewhere on ferries by the Scottish Government. A recent FOI request highlighted that the annual maintenance bill for the CalMac fleet as a whole had almost trebled.
“When the Argyll Flyer was last out of commission in 2021 following an overhaul, 4,680 sailings were cancelled whilst new propellers were sourced. That is an unbelievable level of cancellations that would not be tolerated anywhere else in Scotland, yet we still limp on with the same ferries which are not suitable for the job with no visible / tangible plans or timescales for their replacement.”
The statement added: “It is clear from social media posts following this announcement that frustration and disappointment are at high levels, and Dunoon Community Council will be highlighting that to the eight MSP’s who cover Cowal, the eight MSP’s who cover Inverclyde, the two MP’s who cover the same area and Jim Fairlie, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity. Between the 16 MSP’s they represent 13 per cent of the MSP’s at Holyrood. Transport Scotland have got to be told to fix the Gourock / Dunoon route and allocated the necessary funds to do so.”
