When new vessels enter the fleet, CalMac’s normal practice is to ‘cascade’ displaced vessels to other parts of the network where they could be of benefit. With five further new vessels due to enter service over the next 12 – 18 months, it is intended to cascade a ship to the Craignure – Oban service to replace the MV Isle of Mull. Currently the Isle of Mull, Isle of Arran and Isle of Lewis are penciled in for disposal, joining the Hebridean Isles to make way for the new tonnage currently under construction. 2026 will almost certainly be the final year of operation for the MV Isle of Mull.
The likely candidates to replace the IOM are the MV Hebrides (moving from Uig); MV Clansman (which may be displaced by the Hebrides); MV Finlaggan (freed up from Islay) or the Caledonian Isles (released from Arran).
When reading unrelated CalMac documents, repeated mention of the redeployment of the Cale Isles to Mull has been made, so it appears to be the working assumption at the moment.
However, over the past year, we have had several meetings and conversations with CalMac management on this topic, guided by their assessments of how each of the potential candidates would match our piers and needs. In our view, the Caledonian Isles is the worst of all choices for several reasons –
- It can carry fewer cars than the Isle of Mull. Only if using her mezzanine decks she can carry around 90 cars (compared to IOM’s 60), but the mezz decks add significantly to turnaround times and if used, it would be impossible to keep to timetable – perhaps to the extent that an entire return trip would be lost each day. So she would have to operate without the mezzanine decks, resulting in a reduction in capacity to just 55 cars.
- Passenger access systems in both Oban and Craignure only fit if the vessel is bow-in (unless berth #2 is used, which often occupied by other vessels). So she would likely have to unload / load passengers at one end or other of the route via the car deck. This is difficult but manageable in the case of the Frisa with only 200 passengers – but the Cale Isles can carry up to 1,000.
- Relative to other vessels, the Cale Isles is underpowered, vulnerable to side-winds and difficult to maneuver. This will make her more susceptible to disruption in winter, a risk that is further amplified by the Council placing strict berthing speed limits on Craignure pier for any vessel heavier than the Isle of Mull. This makes the ability to control the vessel when berthing, particularly in windy conditions, a high priority.
We have asked that the vessel re-deployed to Craignure is the MV Hebrides, or as a second choice the Clansman. Both have limitations in compatibility with the passenger access system in Oban, but unlike the Cale Isles they offer increased vehicle capacity and the higher power / better maneuverability that is essential in Craignure.
We have asked CalMac management to rule out deploying the Caledonian Isles to Mull, and so far they have been unable to do so. If the Cale Isles does replace the IOM, it will result in the direct degradation of our service, in terms of reliability, capacity and access. We cannot accept that for Mull the result of hundreds of millions of pounds of public spending on new ferries could be a worse ferry service, and we have made that clear to CalMac and Transport Scotland.