Letter from Terry Williams (Calmac) describing additional delay on the return of the Clansman. Affected travellers are being informed.


From: Terry Williams

I am getting in touch to let you know that, unfortunately, we’ve been advised the drydock operator requires an extra six days to complete MV Hebrides overhaul. This is to complete outstanding repairs to the bow visor and stern ramp. This means the vessel is now expected to exit annual overhaul on Sunday 20 April and return to service on Tuesday 22 April.


This means MV Lord of the Isles will continue to cover Coll, Tiree & Colonsay services whilst MV Clansman covers MV Hebrides. It also means Lochboisdale services continue to be provided by MV Isle of Mull with her reduced passenger limit. The impact of this is that the current deployment plan will remain in place for longer, with MV Isle of Mull continuing to provide your direct service via Oban.



With MV Finlaggan departing for overhaul on Tuesday 22 April, there will now be no time for MV Lord of the Isles to provide any services to South Uist and she will immediately head to Islay. When MV Finlaggan returns to service on Wednesday 14 May, MV Lord of the Isles will resume the service between Mallaig-Lochboisdale, the MV Clansman will resume your service when MV Hebrides is back on Tuesday 22 April.



This situation has been compounded by the delays – which we know are due to issues outside of anyone’s control – with the delivery of MV Isle of Islay to service Islay. Were she here on time, we’d have had an additional major vessel in the fleet for a large part of winter and would not need to deploy one of MV Isle of Arran or MV Lord of the Isles to Islay during MV Finlaggan’s overhaul.



Furthermore, the intermediate shafts on MV Caledonian Isles require additional machining and the vessel’s return date has been revised to the end of May. Her ongoing absence also impacts our deployment options. I know there will be concern about MV Caledonian Isles and understand there may be a lack of confidence in when she’ll be back. However, I can provide some reassurance that we have a high-level of confidence in the vessel returning and being reliable when she does. We’ve taken a thorough, diligent approach to these repairs and inspecting progress as we go. The extensive steel repairs that we’ve carried out have all been inspected before and after the vessel has been floated up – as she has been several times to let other vessels in and out of the dry dock. There are no signs of further structural movement or deformation, giving us confidence that the root cause of the previous deformation has been addressed. With the shaft line, we’ve been checking every element of the shaft line from the engine to the propeller and have identified and remedied any issues as we go.



Kind Regards



Terry Williams