Speaking of Dee tv

[Deeranged]

There has never been a problem with Calmac ferries being taken out of service due to rusting steel or it being discovered when they get their annual overhaul until the last two years.

Seriously? Is it possible that the information just wasn't made public until the last two years? Thing is that every steel built sea going vessel has, since they started making them, suffered from corrosion issues - it's the nature of the beast. It's actually not confined to steel as most metals will corrode more rapidly in a sea spray atmosphere.

Is it not also possible that the acceptance criteria has tightened over the last two years? That would possibly mean that prior to that the yards just weren't rejecting the corrosion.

[islaydarkblue]

Seriously? Is it possible that the information just wasn't made public until the last two years? Thing is that every steel built sea going vessel has, since they started making them, suffered from corrosion issues - it's the nature of the beast. It's actually not confined to steel as most metals will corrode more rapidly in a sea spray atmosphere.

Is it not also possible that the acceptance criteria has tightened over the last two years? That would possibly mean that prior to that the yards just weren't rejecting the corrosion.

Twenty years ago some of the crew on the Kennacraig to Islay ferry in good weather in the summer months used to be painting exposed parts of the ship on the various decks during the crossings but that never happens nowadays.
The other more important problem is that the average age of all the Calmac has greatly increased since the SNP gained power at Holyrood in 2007.
Since 2007 there have only been two new large car ferries built for the Clyde and Hebridean ferry routes.
The MV Finlaggan which went into service in May 2011 had been in the planning long before 2007 as my wife and I attended a public meeting about the new Islay ferry in the Gaelic College in Bowmore, Isle of Islay in August 2003.
The MV Loch Seaforth ferry was built around 2013 and it was leased from Lloyds Banking Group until the Scottish Government decided to repay the deal about a month before one of the main engines in the MV Loch Seaforth broke down resulting in it being withdrawn from service for major repairs.
Nicola Sturgeon and the rest of the Scottish Government ministers need to remember that the Calmac ferries are the bridge from the islands to the Mainland.