Category Archives: Transport Forum

CMAL Tiree Presentation Oct 2018

Kevin Hobbs  CEO of  CMAL  gave a detailed CMAL-Tiree Presentation  to the Tiree Transport Forum (29 Oct)

He explained CMAL’s relationship  with Scottish Government- Transport Scotland- CalMac, the funding mode and income and expenditure streams.

He reviewed the delayed delivery prospects of the two new ferries under construction, which now  dictates a lack of fleet resilience  through till autumn 2020.

He also outlined what he regarded as the’ideal ‘CalMac fleet replacement programme by 2025 ie 10 ferries , 6 ‘ biggies’ all standard units of 90/95m LOA  and 4 small units requiring  upwards of £400m investment.

Ferry Investment has been a major consideration of the REC Committee which has now made detailed recommendations to Scottish Government.

CalMac response to TTF

John,
Thank you for your email and I note the Transport Forum’s view.  Firstly, please be assured that we were not withholding any information from you at our meeting. You will recall that we discussed the current pressures on the network and that, notwithstanding our commitment to deliver the best service possible to each community, there may from time to time have to be substitute arrangements.  In Tiree’s case, if the MV Clansman was not available, our experience suggested that although she has slightly lesser capacity, MV Lord of the Isles was the most appropriate replacement. To the best of my recollection, the meeting understood this.
The change to Uig triangle relief cover during MV Hebrides’ dry dock in March, followed concerns from the community that MV Hebridean Isles & MV Isle Of Arran would be unable to provide  a resilient service, based on previous experience of this arrangement and MV Isle of Arran’s recent problems with her propulsion system.  We believe that by deploying MV Clansman to the triangle and MV Lord Of The Isles to Coll/Tiree, this will provide the most resilient service across both routes.  Any capacity issues are manageable.
I recognise that you would not wish to see the MV Clansman redeployed away from Tiree but I am sure you will appreciate the planning constraints that we have to work with to maintain the best service we can across the network. I hope this clarifies the position.
Regards,
David
David Gibson
Director of Service Delivery

Letter to Calmac expressing disappointment on Deployment of MV Clansman to Other Network Routes

Letter to Calmac expressing disappointment on Deployment of MV Clansman to Other Network Routes

The link above gives the background details

Dear David

Tiree Transport Forum are in receipt of your letter of the 17th October 2018, one week following your visit to Tiree and a wide ranging meeting with Tiree Transport Forum.

It is extremely disappointing for Tiree Transport Forum members to learn that despite previous firm assurances that MV Clansman is the dedicated vessel for Oban-Coll-Tiree, it now transpires that at the earliest opportunity the vessel is to be deployed elsewhere on the network, “to improve resilience”, following demands from customers using the Uig triangle route. Your letter states that you have given “extensive consideration” to the proposal, and it is all the more discouraging to our members that such consideration did not warrant a mention to us during our lengthy meeting with you, Finlay and Robert.

This kind of ill thought through proposal, and also manner in which it has been delivered, does absolutely nothing to foster any spirit of cooperation between your company and the communities which you exist to serve.

Tiree Transport Forum would urge you to give some further extensive consideration to finding a structured means of retaining a full service to Tiree during the period of MV Clansman dry dock. Everyone, yourselves included, is more than aware of the capacity/weight/load issues that will be presented by deployment of the MV Lord of The Isles to Oban-Coll-Tiree.

Yours sincerely,

John MacCaskill,
Chairman,
Tiree Transport Forum