From the Scotsman, today:
Claims by the owner of a harbour on CalMac’s busiest route that its poor condition is due to damage by the operator’s ferries have been rubbished by another ports firm which said the fleet had not harmed any of its own 26 harbours.
Who owns Peel Ports?
John Whittaker (born 14 March 1942) is a British billionaire. He is chairman of the Peel Group, a property business that mainly invests in North West England. According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019, Whittaker is worth £1.95 billion.
Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia (Canada):
The ferry between Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia is back on the water for another season and many are hoping issues which plagued the service are a thing of the past. In July 2022, the 50 year year-old MV Holiday Island caught fire just outside of the harbour at Wood Islands, P.E.I., leaving the MV Confederation as the only ship on the route. It was joined by a second ferry on loan from Quebec the next year. Due to an error during a tech update, the Confederation began to suffer a number of serious mechanical issues, leaving it out of commission for much of that sailing season. https://dailyguardian.ca/eastern-p-e-i-looks-for-smooth-sailing-this-ferry-season/
Only one ferry, no backup?
And on the Isle of Man:
The new £70m ferry terminal will not be in use by the time the 2024 TT races take place, the government has confirmed.
Berthing trials by Manx ferries at the new facility, which has been marred by delays and spiralling costs, have been taking place since March.
In a statement, the Manx government said the decision not to use the new landing stage during the island’s busiest period of tourism had been taken to “ensure a smooth transition” to the Liverpool terminal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1vw1q56904o
Imagine the headline if a CalMac ferry disruption affected a festival in Scotland? Say, Islay, whisky?
No need to imagine:
Islay whisky festival warning over ‘inexcusable’ ferry disruption: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxezvjyy5gdo
And on the Isle of Wight?
Red Funnel has sold its high-speed passenger ferry Red Jet 4.
The catamaran, which started carrying passengers on the Southampton-West Cowes route nearly 21 years ago, was taken out of service in March. It leaves the operator with two high-speed ferries, Red Jet 6 and 7, running the route.
Both the high-speed and car ferry services have suffered cancellations and delays in recent months after issues with the vessels and staff shortages. In March, eight of the ferry firm’s directors resigned over plans to change its fleet. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-68982064
So, two unreliable ferries and you sell the backup? Imagine the BBC Scotland headline.
Finally, in good ole Washington State:
Ever since he was two or three years old, Steve Nevey wanted to work on ships. His father was in the British Navy and took Nevey to visit some of the ships he was working on during his childhood in the United Kingdom. When show and tell came around at school, Nevey remembers his peers talking about their pet rabbits and dogs – he was talking about aircraft carriers.
True to his passion, Nevey has spent a lifetime on the water, working for a ferry system in Scotland, major seagoing corporations and the cruise industry before he found himself traveling to Seattle in 2008 with a single suitcase in hand to work with the Holland America Group on a cruise ship. He never left.
As Nevey jumps into the role at a moment of high tension. WSF’s aging fleet was been reduced to 21 vessels when 19 are required for full service, and WSDOT reported an 86% on-time performance and a completion of 95.6% of scheduled runs in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 (October through December 2023), leading riders, ferry community leaders and gubernatorial candidates to view the situation as a crisis. https://eu.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2024/05/10/washington-state-ferries-leader-wants-to-change-culture-build-boats/73633933007/
Only 86% on time compared to 99%+ in his time in Scotland? That’ll come in handy.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Just waiting for RS reporters rushing down and the story will be CalMac ferries damage the facilities of the port and the owners want them to pay for the repairs but the SNP SG deny any responsibility another ferry fiasco by the SNP says BBC
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70,000 islanders. 34 ferries. 6 on order. One ferry for 2,000 islanders. Better than some bus services. Subsidised flights too.
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When you put it like that……
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T hhis might interest you. The Cale Isles is virtually being rebuilt
https://mullandionaferrycommittee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/cale-isles-update.pdf
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i would love to know if PEEL is involved in XLCC the new company with just 30 staff that got £9million from Scottish Enterprise to build subsea cables to transfer electricity from wind power , its based at Largs the old Hunterston power station it says it plans to send wind power from Morocco in north africa to europe using its cables , a bit odd i just wonder if the real plan is to sell Scotlands windpowered electricity to Europe through these cables .
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More on ferries, this time (and again) from the Isle of Wight. From the BBC News website dated 15 March 2024: ‘Eight Red Funnel directors resign over fleet changes’.
‘Red Funnel, which runs ferries between Southampton and the Isle of Wight, lost two thirds of its directors on 28 February, according to Companies House.
‘The resignations were part of a board structure review and “in support of [its] fleet replacement programme”, the business said.
Its three vehicle ferries are about 30 years old.
And on fleet replacement the company stated: ‘”We are keen to replace our aging vehicle ferries to ensure we continue to provide our essential lifeline services for decades to come, and to support residents and visitors alike with modern, greener and more customer-friendly ships.” The BBC adds: ‘It did not give further details of a timeline to replace the fleet.’
The article has no mention of angry islanders, no mention of angry local politicians, or of angry national politicians etc. No blame was laid in the reporting of this story!
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Ten sailing to Arran a day. 5,000 people pop. One every hour? Better than some bus services.
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O/T
Three days ago….Femi Oluwole , a political commentator, tweeted this….(he, Femi, is someone who has a high profile as an individual who has highlighted the madness of Brexit and also the chaos and insanity that Brexit has caused/generated for the Tory party and also for the UK….and now he views other pro UK political parties also seem to be getting infected with this Brexit madness in them now supporting it also as a UK policy…i.e. Labour party….who BTW he, Femi, stated kicked him out as a Labour member….obvs they , he Labour party under Keir Starmer, sees him. Femi, as too opiniated in his opposition to Brexit thus he is a classed as a threat…..as he is deemed not subservient (obedient) enough for Herr Starmer…….LOL)
His tweet was this:
“For anyone keeping score”:
“Tories are scrambling to join Labour.
Labour is trying to sound like Tories
DUP unionists split the union via Brexit.
SNP backing away from independence.
‘Brexit Party’ said Brexit is worse than Remain”.
So I agree with most of his assertions in his tweet apart from the “SNP backing away from independence”…..where on earth did he source that information from ?
Did he hear it straight from the proverbial ‘Horse’s mouth’…as in the current FM ?
Or did the FM state something upon independence that he, Femi, translated (badly) as meaning that the SNP will be “backing away from independence”…..perhaps it is as simple as the new FM removing the role of ‘Minister for independence’ from his frontbench team .….which then, to Femi translates as , what he has obviously assumed it to mean…… in that the removal of that role must then mean the SNP no longer are seeking/promoting independence (but it doesn’t mean that….does it)……. hence his fake news in his tweet in relation to the SNP & independence….surely not !
Or has he, like others, made the same mistake in allowing his ‘wires to be crossed’ by some poorly worded opinion based article or some rabid #SNPBAD report via a source in the UK media, who as a UK media source is one of the many pro UK opponents to independence that are very hostile to the SNP, thus he, Femi, has chosen to (mis)communicate this information as a fact via them as his source…surely not !
Femi is great at monitoring and critiquing UK politics from a UK perspective….but his personal ‘take’ and observations upon Scottish politics , are , like all other Pro UK media….guesses…..assumptions…..and many a time wrong !
Thus he. Femi, should stick to what he does best and what he knows best that is commentating on Pro UK political parties and Brexit…..and leave Scottish politics to those who, day in and day out within Scotland, have to constantly deal with and tolerate the various Scottish branch offices of both the UK media and UK political parties, who themselves are experts, at misrepresenting anything and everything connected to both the SNP and independence…..that then would save him, Femi, some embarrassment in promoting news that perhaps he should have given a little more research to….in order to verify it’s accuracy…..and then he could tweet and keep an accurate “score” on what is really going on with all political parties in Femi’s UK, including the SNP…..as what he , Femi, states in his tweet in relation to the SNP & independence is perhaps not what he, Femi , assumes is the case in relation to both the SNP as a party and their supposed, according to Femi, “backing away from” independence…….
If anyone can back up Femi’s assertion/observation in relation to this then please do as I and others may need to be enlightened upon it…..but so far I have neither seen nor heard any big announcement from either the new FM or the SNP , and it would indeed be a big announcement, that backs up Femi’s statement that they as a party are now “backing away from independence”…..(BTW this is not me offering an opening for a comment from anyone connected to the ‘other’ independence party to add a #SNPBAD comment in response to my comment on Femi’s tweet, where he has, I think, misinterpreted the non fact that the SNP are supposedly indeed doing this……as in he, Femi, is another one who has fallen into a ‘pro UK trap’ mentality of #SNPBAD….but I suspect his bad judgement in tweeting this, was not, like the pro UK media, done with a malicious intent.. LOL)
NMRN
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