CalMac's plan to charter extra ferry abandoned after trials

A plan to charter a large ship from the Isle of Man to help relieve pressure on Scotland's west coast ferry services this winter looks set to be abandoned.

Ferry operator CalMac carried out a berthing trial with MV Ben-My-Chree on its Arran route on Wednesday but later told ferry users it was unsuccessful.

The ship, which is owned by the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, managed to berth at both Troon and Brodick but safety margins at Brodick were too tight to proceed with the charter plan.

CalMac had hoped to hire the ship to improve resilience this winter when a number of its large ferries could be out of service for repairs or scheduled maintenance.

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Ben-My-Chree - which means "girl of my heart" in the Manx language - is currently used as a back-up vessel for Isle of Man ferry services after a new ship, the Manxman, arrived last year.

The 125m (410ft) ship is available for charter to other operators subject to a service agreement which means it can be recalled with four days' notice in emergencies.

Ben-My-Chree is wider than CalMac ships that normally operate on the Arran route, and had some difficulty berthing at Brodick.

CalMac later told the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee that while it was awaiting a full report, the trial was considered "unsuccessful".

"Whilst the vessel berthed successfully at Brodick, we were at the very edge of the limits it was safe to operate to, and we’d be relying on completely benign conditions to berth," it said.

Ben-My-Chree is now heading back to the Isle of Man.

CalMac said there was "no immediate negative impact" on it services as a result of the trials not working out, and it would continue to explore options for chartering extra ferry capacity.

Challenging winter

CalMac has said it faces a very challenging winter, and a charter of Ben-My-Chree would have freed up a vessel from the Arran route to maintain services elsewhere.

The main Arran ferry, MV Caledonian Isles, has been out of action since February and repairs to a new fault with a gearbox are expected to take at least another fortnight.

MV Hebridean Isles is due to be retired next month as it needs recertification and it is not considered feasible to maintain the ship any longer.

Other large vessels in the CalMac fleet will also have to be withdrawn for scheduled annual maintenance over the winter.

The dual-fuel ship Glen Sannox, being built at the Ferguson shipyard, was due to be handed over two weeks ago, but a revised delivery date has yet to be confirmed.

The first of four new ferries being built in Turkey has also been delayed and will not arrive until next February.

The last time a new large ship was provided to CalMac by ferries procurement firm CMAL was in 2015, when Loch Seaforth was delivered.

Many of the ships in the CalMac fleet are now well beyond their expected service life. In some cases they are so old that spare parts are no longer available and have to be specially manufactured.