**UPDATED 23/4 13:00** Don’t count your ferries until they actually berth…. MV Isle of Mull delayed.

First it was Monday … then Wednesday …. now we’ll probably have to wait until next week for the return of the Isle of Mull. the Isle of Mull will not return until at least April 30th. Full text of the message from CalMac is below. However, we are hopeful that the Lord of the Isles may be put on the Craignure service, particularly in view of the busy Music Festival weekend coming up.

CalMac’s latest message:

Unfortunately, the current deployment plan will be extended up to and including Wednesday 29 April to allow OEM attendance at MV Hebrides.

As you may recall, the vessel reported an issue with the fully overhauled gearbox during routine run-in following overhaul. An OEM engineer will arrive onboard tomorrow (Friday) and inspect the gearbox and provide a recommended repair plan which will then be actioned. As the OEM overhauled the gearbox, we need them to inspect and propose that plan.

To provide as much certainty as we can on service provision to communities and customers on islands affected by the ongoing delay to MV Hebrides return, we’ll continue with the current deployment plan to the middle of next week. 

On Mull, this means that MV Coruisk & MV Loch Frisa will continue to provide a two-vessel service (other than when MV Lord of the Isles is operating before she heads to cover MV Finlaggan’s overhaul on Islay).

This full deployment is: 

Route	Planned Deployment	New Deployment
Little Minch	MV Hebrides – from 27 Apr	MV Clansman 27 – 29 Apr
Oban – Craignure	MV Isle of Mull & MV Loch Frisa – from 27 Apr	MV Coruisk & MV Loch Frisa 27-29 Apr
Oban – Coll/Tiree	MV Clansman – from 27 Apr	MV Isle of Mull – 27-29 Apr
Oban – Colonsay	MV Clansman – from 27 Apr	MV Isle of Mull – 28 Apr  Service on 27 April will be cancelled
Mallaig – Armadale	MV Coruisk – from 27 Apr	Passenger Charter Vessel 27-29 Apr
Oban – Castlebay	MV Isle of Lewis    MV Clansman Wednesdays via Coll/Tiree – 29 Apr	MV Glen Sannox    This service will be cancelled

I am sorry that the delay to MV Hebrides continues to cause disruption to your service. We will share an update on MV Hebrides w/b Monday 27 April once the OEM engineer has had a chance to inspect the gearbox.

CalMac’s previous message:

Unfortunately, MV Hebrides return to service has been delayed after an issue was identified with the vessel’s starboard gearbox during post-overhaul commissioning. The gearbox was overhauled by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) as part of the planned programme of work for MV Hebrides’ drydock and the issue arose during routine run-in testing over the weekend. We are liaising with the OEM on next steps.  

With the timescales for repairs currently unknown and to provide certainty to customers, the intention is to extend the current deployment plan until Sunday 26 April.  

This is: 

·         Uig – Tarbert/Lochmaddy: MV Clansman in place of MV Hebrides 

·         Oban – Craignure: MV Coruisk & MV Loch Frisa in place of MV Isle of Mull and MV Loch Frisa 

·         Oban – Coll/Tiree and Oban – Colonsay: MV Isle of Mull in place of MV Clansman 

·         Mallaig – Armadale: Charter vessels operating in place of MV Coruisk 

Repairs to MV Lord of the Isles are expected to complete on Monday 20 April and the vessel is planned to depart Inchgreen on the morning of Tuesday 21 April.  Deployment plans for MV Lord of the Isles for 22-25 April will be reviewed based on requirements in the network before she goes to Islay to cover MV Finlaggan’s overhaul from Sunday 26 April. These plans will be shared on Tuesday 21 April.