Below is the full text of communication from CalMac regarding today’s news that from Friday 13th through to the end of November (and we suspect, beyond that), Craignure – Oban will be operated by the Loch Frisa on her own. There is little we can do about it unfortunately. However, the Frisa-only timetable that has been proposed is far from ideal, and we are pressing for improvements.
The CalMac message:
Unfortunately, MV Loch Seaforth’s annual overhaul will run on by two weeks later than planned. The port and starboard rudder stocks require specialist repair in Denmark. A repair plan is in place, and we now expect her overhaul to complete on Thursday 26 November and a return to service on Saturday 28 November.
To cover this, we’re having to redeploy MV Isle of Islay to Ullapool-Stornoway, and MV Isle of Arran to Kennacraig-Islay, for the duration of the delay. Due to annual overhauls and disruption that’s already ongoing in the Outer Hebrides (with reduced capacity on the Sound of Harris and an amended timetable on the Uig – Tarbert/Lochmaddy service until Christmas) we have limited deployment options to cover MV Loch Seaforth. As you know, we require two vessels on Ullapool-Stornoway to cover MV Loch Seaforth’s annual overhaul – one for the usual day service and one for the overnight freight service.
This means that the Oban-Craignure service will be single-vessel MV Loch Frisa from Friday 13 November. This will be supplemented by additional sailings by MV Clansman on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Here is the timetables:
As you will see it shows over-capacity some days, but the data below does not capture the Clansman additional sailings that have been added onto the timetable, which will meet demand overall on all days except Monday 16th.
| Weekday | Dep Date | Leg | Current Utilisation | Loch Frisa only utilisation |
| Friday | 13 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 52% | 126% |
| Friday | 13 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 48% | 118% |
| Saturday | 14 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 26% | 58% |
| Saturday | 14 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 25% | 55% |
| Sunday | 15 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 44% | 54% |
| Sunday | 15 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 35% | 43% |
| Monday | 16 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 63% | 105% |
| Monday | 16 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 58% | 94% |
| Tuesday | 17 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 58% | 110% |
| Tuesday | 17 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 57% | 109% |
| Wednesday | 18 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 46% | 89% |
| Wednesday | 18 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 51% | 98% |
| Thursday | 19 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 40% | 77% |
| Thursday | 19 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 39% | 75% |
| Friday | 20 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 37% | 91% |
| Friday | 20 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 29% | 70% |
| Saturday | 21 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 22% | 42% |
| Saturday | 21 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 18% | 40% |
| Sunday | 22 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 18% | 22% |
| Sunday | 22 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 21% | 25% |
| Monday | 23 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 38% | 62% |
| Monday | 23 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 46% | 76% |
| Tuesday | 24 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 41% | 78% |
| Tuesday | 24 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 38% | 73% |
| Wednesday | 25 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 31% | 61% |
| Wednesday | 25 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 30% | 58% |
| Thursday | 26 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 37% | 71% |
| Thursday | 26 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 34% | 65% |
| Friday | 27 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 32% | 69% |
| Friday | 27 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 30% | 67% |
| Saturday | 28 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 20% | 34% |
| Saturday | 28 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 13% | 30% |
| Sunday | 29 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 15% | 19% |
| Sunday | 29 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 17% | 21% |
| Monday | 30 November 2026 | Craignure-Oban | 37% | 61% |
| Monday | 30 November 2026 | Oban-Craignure | 32% | 52% |
MV Glen Sannox’s own annual overhaul is scheduled to start on Monday 16 November, with the vessel heading for dock on Saturday 14 November. Due to expiring certifications, and the anticipated knock-on effect on other overhauls if she runs late, we are unable to delay her going to dock. Her annual overhaul completes on Sunday 20 December – any delay to her docking takes us through the Christmas period which would likely exacerbate any delay. We have an important dependency in early January where MV Glen Sannox is required on the Little Minch to cover MV Hebrides when she goes to release MV Clansman for overhaul. MV Hebrides and MV Clansman are the only two vessels able to operate to Coll and Tiree consistently.
We’ve also explored the charter market and spoken to brokers, and there’s no suitable charter vessels available at such short notice. Therefore, we need to shuffle our major vessel fleet to cover the overhaul delay. We’re doing this with the following overhauls going on across the major vessel fleet:
- MV Loch Seaforth (in dock now, expected back in service on Saturday 28 November)
- MV Lord of the Isles (in dock now, expected back in service on Sunday 22 November)
- MV Glen Sannox (heading to dock on Saturday 14 November)
- MV Isle of Mull (heading to dock on Sunday 22 November)
To provide cover until MV Loch Seaforth returns, MV Isle of Islay will be redeployed from the Islay service to operate Ullapool-Stornoway’s freight service starting from Sunday 15 November. MV Isle of Lewis will continue to operate the day service. You may be aware MV Isle of Islay has warranty works scheduled for Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 November – these will be postponed to protect the service.
Though not directly linked to this reshuffle, MV Lord of the Isles will be supporting the Ministry of Defence exercise on South Uist, which occurs every second year. From 23 November to 18 December, she’ll operate an amended TT with more sailings to Oban. Until MV Loch Seaforth returns, this will also be a combined service with Barra. The amended timetable will be published nearer 23 November.
Deployment plan in full
Here is the full deployment plan for the period of MV Loch Seaforth’s delay:
| Route | Current Deployment – as published | Revised Deployment |
| Ullapool-Stornoway | MV Isle of Lewis: 19 Oct – 15 Nov MV Loch Seaforth: 16 Nov – 26 Mar | MV Isle of Lewis: 19 Oct – 27 Nov MV Loch Seaforth: 28 Nov onwards |
| Ullapool-Stornoway freight | MV Glen Sannox: 19 Oct – 14 Nov MV Loch Seaforth: 15 Nov – 26 Mar | MV Glen Sannox: 19 Oct – 14 Nov MV Isle ofIslay: 15 – 27 Nov MV Loch Seaforth: 28 Nov onwards |
| Oban – Castlebay | MV Isle of Mull combined service with LBO: to 16 Nov MV Isle of Lewis: from 16 Nov | MV Isle of Mull combined service with LBO: to 22 Nov MV LOTI combined service with LBO: 23 – 28 Nov MV Isle of Lewis: 29 Nov onwards |
| Mallaig – Lochboisdale | MV Isle of Mull combined service with CAS: to 16 Nov MV Isle of Mull: 17 – 22 Nov MV LOTI: 23 Nov onwards | MV Isle of Mull combined service with CAS: to 22 Nov MV LOTI combined service with CAS: 23 – 28 Nov MV LOTI: from 29 Nov onwards |
| Kennacraig – Islay | MV Finlaggan & MV Isle of Islay: 19 Oct onwards | MV Finlaggan & MV Isle of Arran: 13 – 30 Nov MV Finlaggan & MV Isle of Islay: 1st Dec onwards |
| Oban – Craignure | MV Isle of Arran & MV Loch Frisa: 25 Oct onwards | MV Isle of Arran & MV Loch Frisa: to 12 Nov MV Loch Frisa SV: 13 – 30 Nov MV Isle of Arran & MV Loch Frisa: 01 Dec onwards |
| Lochaline – Fishnish | MV Loch Fyne | No change |
We sincerely apologise to the disruption to your service.