Have issued an apology saying they're 'deeply sorry' for ferry cancellations and disruption.
That should be that sorted, we should ALL move on now - nothing to see here, all sorted.
Have issued an apology saying they're 'deeply sorry' for ferry cancellations and disruption.
That should be that sorted, we should ALL move on now - nothing to see here, all sorted.
No chance! I want to see heads roll and a complete clear out at Calmac. It is a disgrace and the small communities who rely on ferries should be supported by their mainland brothers and sisters.
By the way we met on holiday a Swiss family. The husband had learned to drive at the age of 58. His wife did not drive and they had never felt any need to own a car. They live in Lucerne and he works in Zurich. Commuting by train and bus is absolutely the norm for him and his family.
But they've apologised - surely that counts for something?
I’d like to hear the views of someone who actually uses this service if anyone knows of any such person give them a shout
I use Calmac Ferries and the problem with the Scottish Government owned Calmac ferries Limited lies with Scottish Government owned Caledonian Marine Assets Limited (CMAL) and Scottish Government owned Transport Scotland who awarded the contract for ferries 801 and 802 to Ferguson’s Shipyard which was bought out of Administration in July 2014 by Alex Salmond’s friend at that time Jim McCall who had previously made his fortune owning the company Clyde Blowers.
The Calmac ferry crews and on shore staff work very hard and get all the complaints. Meanwhile Robbie Drummond who is the Chief Executive of Calmac Ferries Limited apologises for the continual breakdown of the Calmac ferries but nothing is ever done.
If Robbie Drummond was the chief executive of a PLC he would have either resigned by now or been sacked but as a Scottish Government civil servant he is ‘fire proof’.
You might not be aware that the MV Hebrides was withdrawn from service twice in a week.
The first time she was moved to Ullapool pier where the Calmac mobile team of engineers attempted to repair the fault. After going back into service a couple of days later the same fault which was supposed to have been fixed happened again.
This time the MV Hebrides was removed from service and sailed to dry dock in Greenock where she was out of service for over a week undergoing permanent repairs.
This fiasco could have been resolved a lot quicker if the MV Hebrides had immediately sailed to dry dock instead of wasting a couple of days trying to fix the problem.
There seems to a problem with the fire fighting capabilities on the Calmac Ferries as the MV
Lord of the Isles ferry in May 2022 was withdrawn from service for a week whilst repairs were also carried out on its fire fighting system.
I have plenty more information about Calmac Ferries Limited who are a Scottish Government owned operating company if you are interested.
How dare they take any ship out of service in order to carry out essential mainenance. I blame The Scottish Government for this ridiculous insistence that ferries are safe for passengers to use. Have we learned nothing from The Herald Of Free Enterprise? We need to keep these ferries running and to hell with safety and maintenance.
It was not for essential maintenance.
It was to repair the CO2 fire fighting equipment which should have been repaired when the ferry received it annual overhaul during the previous winter timetable period.
This is not the first time that days have been wasted trying to carry out a repair at the pier side of a large Calmac ferry by their mobile repair team which has been a failure.
On that occasion I have first hand experience of this as we were due to be sailing on the MV Hebridean Isles (Heb Isles) ferry which had over a week before developed a leak in its hull.
The Calmac mobile repair team spent three days trying to repair the MV Hebridean Isles ferry which was withdrawn from service on a Saturday at lunchtime when it arrived at Port Askaig on Islay.
The Heb Isles limped back to Kennacraig where the Calmac mobile team of engineers worked on fixing the repair until late on the following Tuesday afternoon after which it had sea trials which proved that the repair was no use.
The Heb Isles was removed from service and it sailed to dry dock in Greenock for repairs.
The Heb Isles did not arrive at the dry dock in Greenock until the Friday afternoon and no work was carried out over the weekend as Calmac management team refused to pay overtime rates.
Over a week was wasted trying to carry out a repair at Kennacraig plus the management of Calmac’s penny pinching attitude regarding getting the MV Hebridean Isles repaired as soon as possible and back in service.
On this occasion the Heb Isles being withdrawn from service did not affect any other Calmac ferry route as the MV Finlaggan operated a single ferry service on the Kennacraig to Islay route. The only people to be inconvenienced were people travelling to and from Islay by ferry with the members of the Islay Ferry Committee unlike other ferry committees never contacting the BBC or STV to highlight their problems with Calmac.
So let's get this clear. The fire safety sytem on board a sea going vessel developed a fault and an attempt was made to repair that system at an annual service, that attempt at repair was unsuccessful but sufficient to allow the vessel to safely operate, presumably under a temporary maritime safety license, however a full repair was required at a later date to restore the vessel to fully licensable condition?
The fire safety system is pretty key to the safety of a sea going vessel, I'm sure you'll agree with that, and therefore any maintenance on it is essential maintenance. Is it your opinion that it would have been better to allow the vessel to operate in an unsafe condition rather than placing it in dry dock for repairs? Certainly seems to be your preference reading the absilute nonsense you're spouting here.
I enclose an article explaining why the MV Hebrides ferry was withdrawn from service twice in a week which explains everything. https://news.stv.tv/highlands-island...ist-and-harris