In the ongoing ferry saga, the Herald has this today:
Ministers have come under fire as an £800m scheme to create a Clyde shipbuilding revolution and solve Scotland’s ferry crisis with a fleet of 50 catamarans has been sunk.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23694719.anger-800m-clyde-shipbuilding-plan-resolve-ferries-crisis-sinks/
Sunk? Oh, I get it. Clever.
Why have ministers not picked up on this offer. I’ve no idea, nor does the Herald.
I’m more concerned with that happy assumption of a ‘crisis’.
CalMac is operating at 95.4% reliability over the summer season and at almost 100% reliability in recent weeks, with only the Campbelltown link, out. It’s quicker to just drive round on the mainland to Glasgow than to take the ferry/drive via Ardrossan.
The comparable BC Ferries in Canada is really in a crisis with a large population ill-served by really old vessels.
Brittany Ferries struggles to even reach 90% on its less than 10 crossings.
Research by Ernst and Young LLP, compared the ferry systems operating in Scotland, Canada (BC), Norway, Australia and New Zealand, in 2022. It was not reported.
Simply using the facts above, we can say:
The Norway service is a bit of an outlier with twice as many passengers per year than the next biggest, BC with 22m and 9 times greater than in Scotland with only 5m. Also, key information on subsidies could not be collected for the Norwegian or the New Zealand systems.
Most striking is the level of subsidy per passenger. In Scotland, it averages £29.80 per passenger journey. In Canada (BC), it is only just over half at £16.36 and in Australia, only just over one-tenth at £3.86. Norway figures are not presented.
Also fascinating, is the ratio of vessels per passenger journey. In Scotland, there is on average, 1 ferry for every 161 290 journeys; in New Zealand, 1 for every 200 000 journeys; in Australia, 1 ferry for every 468 750 journeys; in Canada only 1 ferry for every 628 571 journeys.
In terms of age, interesting in the light of media headlines here, Scotland’s ferries are the newest with an average of 22 years, with Australian ferries at 24, Norwegian at 26 and the Canadian ferries at 35!
Finally and an important measure of the value of a system to communities, how many locations and routes are served?
Despite having by far the fewest passenger journeys (5m), other than in New Zealand, in Scotland, 52 terminals and 29 routes are served.
In Canada, 47 terminals and 25 routes are served.
In Australia, only 38 terminals and 9 routes are served.
In New Zealand, 21 terminals and 24 routes are served.
This research clearly demonstrates that, after 16 years of SNP-rule, the people in Scotland’s islands benefit from a far more generous taxpayer-funded service than anywhere comparable in the world.
‘Most generous ferry service in world?’ There are archipelago ferry systems beyond the above sample in the ‘developed world’ – Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines – but safety concerns (they sink, hundreds die, often) disqualify them from this review.
Finally, might there be an obvious problem with these catamarans. I’m no expert of course but:
The catamaran hull form has some constraints of its own when compared to a monohull, namely: the port infrastructure may not be suited to the larger beam of the vessel; different seakeeping characteristics compared to a monohull that makes operators more reluctant to consider this solution, and finally some limitations when considering very high payload applications.
https://www.bmt.org/insights/ferry-design-back-to-fundamentals/#:~:text=The%20catamaran%20hull%20form%20has,solution%2C%20and%20finally%20some%20limitations
All of those 52 terminals served by CalMac might have to be modified? In some cases it might not be possible?
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Whilst I appreciate your efforts to clarify the consistent distortion and inaccuracy in media claims, you have fallen into the same trap wit your comment on the 52 ports that may need modification. CMAL are already spending £millions on modifications to piers including having to modify their modifications to accommodate the rusting hulks in Ferguson’s yard. You also chose to highlight the potential reasons why catamarans have been discounted by the Scottish Government but fail to provide the balance by either giving the reasons for cats or the counter to the claimed problems! Your argument in this piece is bo**ocks and you should be ashamed to have written such rubbish!
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You’ve fallen into the trap of thinking I have to have better standards than the opposition sniping at Scot Gov with, as you put it, bo**ocks.
This is not peer-review research for 14 PG students to refer to but a media war which, currently, is enabling a Labour revival in Scotland.
My stuff is at least referenced and uses reliable data but, openly, is partisan and biased.
Along with the stuff I counter, the debate then becomes more balanced though it’s a bit David and Goliath.
I’m campaigning for the SNP. Everybody knows that.
I thought.
Should you be ashamed for being so naive?
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I’d rather have sustainable facts than one sided arguments as your approach can only lead to independence wavers feeling ill informed. I appreciate it is a counter to the media’s relentless SNP baaaad but one sidedness leads to distortion and message failure.
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All communication is based on selection of sources from sometimes a massive range. Some commentators, many, conceal that and their purpose, behind a pretence of impartiality, supposedly only reporting ‘what is there’, rather than constructing realities. I don’t. I trust you to read around and form your own views.
Even in peer-reviewed research, powerful biases deriving from cultural backgrounds, direct the findings.
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The Herald report just seems to be a puff piece for the “Clyde Catamaran Group” in the Heralds long running attempt to smear the SNP and the Scottish Government.
CMAL explain in the Herald report why catamarans are not always suitable, but are not against using them, so just who is “Angry”? I’m not.
As been highlighted many times over, CalMac is operating efficiently, yes there are certainly improvements required and hopefully the first ferry from Fergusons will complete its sea trials and join the CalMac fleet very shortly. It certainly looks good.
Perhaps if the Herald tried some new angle, like a wee update on their poster girl Michelle Mone 🙂
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I think there is a strong element of your assertion of The Herald promoting this particular company. I have seen pieces in other media related to his arguments for catamarans as appropriate vessels to be used on SOME Scottish routes. There was also an argument in terms of speed of construction. There were counterarguments about their unsuitability on some routes.
I have travelled on catamarans in a couple of places and found them generally smooth, comfortable and reasonably fast. So, they are an option.
There are two aspects to the Herald approach. The first is the presentation of catamarans as the only option. This is the media bipolar argument – there are only two options, black/white, up/down, left/right, good/bade. The second is the plugging of a particular company.
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There are four ferries being built. Three more than were built. One a year on average. One was built, a year, for years.
Two will save £Billions on fuel. Innovation costs more. There is increased demand post Covid and increased tourism. Catamarans can be quicker but need good conditions.
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There is much mischief in circulation over ferries in Scotland, and let’s be in doubt there are commercial as well as political interests actively seeking to foment arguments.
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I am an irregular traveller on ferries. However, I have travelled on both types of vessel. On the short crossing from Gills to St. Margaret’s Hope, under 2 hours, catamarans are fine. Their facilities are more basic than those with deep hulls, a tea/coffee bar and burgers. Excellent too. But on a longer trip from Oban to Castlebay, not far off 6 hours of actual sailing time, I’d like the deep hull for better stability in rough weather thanks. The deep hull means there is space I can buy meals on board, a nice option for families with children. I’m happy with a mix and I’m sure Calmac directors will be aware of that. I am also suspicious of a single provider being beefed up by a nowhere-near-cynical-enough press source.
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Thanks
Very informative
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