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Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Network (Winter Resilience)
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure resilience across the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network this winter, in light of the announcement that the MV Caledonian Isles will continue to be out of service until at least the end of the year.
It is deeply frustrating and concerning that the community of Arran is facing a further delay to the return of the MV Caledonian Isles. Ministers and officials continue to push CalMac Ferries to ensure that all options to expedite repairs are being considered. CalMac is now looking at what that means in relation to deployment across the network. Three detailed options using the route prioritisation matrix have been shared with communities today, and final deployment details will be issued next week. The redeployment of vessels is particularly challenging because of the annual overhaul schedule, but CalMac is committed to maintaining lifeline connectivity to our islands.
New vessels that were expected before the start of winter have yet to arrive, a potential charter has turned out not to be viable, the MV Hebridean Isles is being retired in a few weeks, and the MV Caledonian Isles might not be back in service until April. This summer was profoundly difficult for islanders and visitors, and the winter will now be even more challenging. Despite Arran having the busiest route in the network, my constituents have borne the brunt of this year’s disruption.
What will the Scottish Government do to ensure that Arran’s service is as reliable as possible over the coming months? Will the cabinet secretary update Parliament on when the MV Glen Sannox and the MV Isle of Islay will enter service?
On the last point, an update on the Glen Sannox was provided to the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee by the chair of Ferguson Marine in October, which still reflects the intention. The final elements of the transfer from Ferguson to Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd for use on CalMac services are being finalised.
I recognise the veracity of Mr Gibson’s questions and how actively he has pursued them. I understand the frustration that his constituents feel about this. We understand the importance of provision and of planning to provide as much resilience as possible, and the member will recognise that there has to be a balance between the importance of the route—members will recognise that it is one of the busiest on the network—and the responsibility to provide lifeline services elsewhere. That will be a difficult balancing act in what is going to be a challenging and difficult winter.
We thought that last winter would have been the period that caused the most issues, and the two new vessels—or the Glen Sannox, at least—should have been in place by now. We always knew that the MV Caledonian Isles would be an integral part of this winter. I will work with CalMac to ensure that we can provide Arran with the services that it needs, but we also recognise that there are responsibilities across the network.
I thank the cabinet secretary for her further reply. Since the MV Caledonian Isles departed for its annual overhaul in January, the timescale for its return has gone from March to June to August to September to October to mid-November, with no return now in sight, as new faults continue to be found despite millions of pounds being spent on repairs. The vessel was also out of service in 2023 for extensive repairs. Islanders are astonished by how badly that has been managed and by how much time and money has been spent. What is the Scottish Government doing to hold CalMac to account for those failings?
I recognise that the repair and maintenance of ageing vessels has its challenges, but we expect the comprehensive management of that to be done at times of overhaul. Mr Gibson was correct to identify that new and additional issues have been identified recently—anybody who wants to see the detail can see it in CalMac’s press release—on top of the previous issues with the gearbox.
To prevent that from happening in the future, we have to ensure that there is time for regular maintenance of all vessels as part of the new contract. That was one of the points that I made when I met ferry unions recently to identify the things that we expect to see in the forthcoming new contract.
I have to say that it takes a huge amount of brass neck to stand up in the chamber and ask the Scottish National Party Government to explain CalMac’s failures in all of this. Let me tell members where the failures lie for the entire ferry scandal—they lie right there with those on the SNP front benches.
The reasons for the failures are the lack of investment and the lack of progress on new vessels. I have not heard a single solution from the minister as to what CalMac is going to do to address the situation. It is completely out of vessels and completely out of options.
The anger in places such as Arran is palpable. I suggest that the minister should go and visit the island to talk to the businesses that are losing money hand over fist every single day as a direct result. There is no point in me asking the minister what she is going to do, because the answer is nothing. The Government has done nothing about this month after month. Why has not a single SNP minister lost their job over this fiasco?
I do not think that the people of Arran and Kenny Gibson’s constituents would take kindly to the politicisation that has just been expressed. Attacking other members in the chamber and calling them names or using that kind of pejorative language is not acceptable. [Interruption.]
Let us hear the cabinet secretary.
The member said that we are completely out of vessels and completely out of options, which is not true. Had he listened to my answer to the first question that I was asked, he would have heard that I set out that three options are being discussed as we speak. I understand that none of them is palatable, and we want to maximise the routes that we have, but what he said is factually incorrect.
I have to say that nobody is surprised that we are here again to ask the Scottish Government about mismanagement of ferries. All that has been said today is cold comfort for the residents and businesses of Arran, facing a winter of disruption as they limp on with an ageing fleet, following years of underinvestment and poor planning from the Scottish Government. Why should islanders trust the Government on anything that it announces on ferries, given the broken promises, failure to deliver and abject lack of leadership, which has never resulted in the ferry service that they deserve?
I welcome the member to her new brief. Whether it is on ferries, rail or road, I look forward to engaging with her in the future.
With regard to the Government’s commitment and what we are doing, we are delivering six major vessels to the service, which will enhance and improve the position and tackle the issues of resilience and the ageing fleet that the member mentioned. Seven new vessels are also in procurement. The £700 million is a commitment from the Scottish Government that will relieve the pressures that are being faced. Everybody recognises those pressures and, as I said, we are commissioning six major vessels and procuring seven new ones. That is a commitment to our islanders, that is investment and that should be supported.
The cabinet secretary mentioned that the Glen Sannox might offer some comfort. The latest reports from the yard are that delivery will be imminent; it has been imminent since about 2018, but let us hope that it is imminent. Will she clarify, because CalMac is unable to do so, how long it will take to get the Glen Sannox in service from when it is handed over? Will it be 6.5 weeks or 13 weeks? We know that it has had a crew in place for two years, but I cannot work out how long it will take before the Government can get it into service.
The vessel is not currently under the management of CalMac, so in preparation for the vessel being transferred, weekly meetings of all the different players have been happening to ensure that it can be transferred. The member knows that there have also been sea trials that have, for the most part, been successful.
On the period of transfer, the member might be identifying the issue that an annual overhaul has to be booked for all vessels, in consultation with the community. The island community of Arran preferred that to be in December. That scheduling will have an impact on when the Glen Sannox can come on stream for regular passenger vessel deployment. I suspect that that is the reason for the difference that the member has identified.
The Fraser of Allander Institute estimated that each ferry journey to Arran contributes £13,200 to the Arran economy. What work has the Scottish Government done to quantify the cost to Arran and Ardrossan of repeated cancellations? Does the Scottish Government have a plan to compensate businesses and the local economy for the on-going disruption because of the age of the fleet?
I am not sure whether the member supported this year’s budget, but it provided support to the affected communities, and particularly the islands, through hospitality rates relief. Some 1,200 businesses were covered by that provision. The economic impact has been identified in lots of different ways—not least is that I had a conversation in a meeting in the past few weeks with Highlands and Islands Enterprise about how, through working with island communities, we can help recovery in the area.
A lot of this is about confidence. There is a lot of concern about the headlines that people see and how they experience those. Headlines can be important in raising the issue, but they also have a knock-on detrimental effect on customer confidence. We want to rebuild that confidence. I am in active discussions with colleagues about how we can help islanders to build that, particularly by supporting tourism and tourism businesses on Arran and elsewhere.
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