Editor – At the end of June 2011, the vehicle and passenger service on the Dunoon to Gourock town centre route was withdrawn without consultation. A passenger-only service was imposed using vessels known to be incapable of handling weather on the crossing.
However, in May 2011, a press release from Transport Scotland hailed “Bright future for Gourock-Dunoon ferry service.”
It read: “Passengers are set to benefit from major improvements – a new, bigger, faster and higher performing vessel; an improved service which will link with coordinated rail services and a further benefit using the breakwater-sheltered pier, allowing a more reliable service during unsettled weather.”
As we in Dunoon and Cowal know to our cost, the reality has been somewhat different. Here is a reminder of the delays and broken promises.
The five-year contract for Argyll Ferries (CalMac) expired in 2016. In 2017, the contract was extended and the tender process for a new operator was paused. In 2018, the contract was again extended to January 2019. In December 2018, CalMac had officially taken over the route and the paused tender process to identify a commercial operator was cancelled. In July 2019, Transport Scotland confirmed it would deliver new passenger vessels and shoreside infrastructure for the town centre route before April 2022.
In August 2020, it was announced the ferries would not be delivered until 2024. In September 2023, it was stated by Transport Scotland that the vessels would not be in service until 2026 at the earliest.
The latest delay is to investigate performance data on the possible provision of fast vessels for the route. This is in spite of the fact, as far as is known, that there is a speed restriction on this part of the upper Firth.
In the past few weeks, the Scottish Government has announced a review of the very existence of Transport Scotland. What next, then, for this route?
