Why the people of Arran should be delighted with the best ferry service in the world

In the Herald today, regular contributor, Neil Arthur (78), well-known Arran Ferry Committee member and strangely blind to the far better service than the one he seems to remember as a boy, is allowed to suggest:

It’s clear that Scotland’s ferries system is broken beyond repair

I’ll say it again, CalMac is running the world’s best ferry service for cost, reliability and safety.

Proof – read these:

For the fully-sourced facts, see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=CalMac

For the fully-sourced facts, see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=CalMac

For the fully-sourced facts, see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=CalMac

Arran specifically?

In August 2023, CalMac has typically made between 14 and 16 crossings per day between Ardrossan and Brodick (Arran), a total of around 350. There have been only 2 cancellations in that time. The reliability of the Arran service is thus around 99.4%.

The population of Arran is only around 4 600 but benefits from a massive transport subsidy.

The Scottish Government’s subsidy for ferries 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. 

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!

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.

There are other ferry services for islands in Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines but given their deadly qualities, I doubt that any island representatives in Scotland would think it fair to compare with them.

https://www.transport.gov.scot/publication/strategic-framework-of-options-for-the-chfs-network-project-neptune/benchmarking/

Generally speaking, are Scotland’s islanders under threat? Far from it. See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/06/28/not-reported-how-scotlands-islanders-have-stayed-and-thrived-under-snp-government-and-with-calmacs-help/

Is CalMac the best of comparable services in the world?

Ferries – twice the subsidies in Canada, a freeze on fares, SNP Government spending doubled, 99% on time and no lives lost

Want to see a ferry service in an affluent country with a real crisis?

See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/08/21/full-frigging-ferry-fiasco-in-affluent-canada-as-calmac-hits-99-reliability/

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11 thoughts on “Why the people of Arran should be delighted with the best ferry service in the world”

  1. I’m not sure what fond memories the old guy has of the ‘ service ‘ in by gone days, but I can assure you they’ve never had it so good. They’ve lost the service to the Isle of Man and Ireland but they were provided by different companies and presumably we’re discontinued in the modern era as financially unviable. The current 2 ship service dates back to 2004 and that service provision would have quickly disappeared had the Scottish government not introduced subsidies which 1, kept the service provision viable and 2, made the the service affordable to the islanders and tourists. This applies across the fleet with some destinations barely washing their face financially.

    The much abused phrase ‘ lifeline service ‘ applies to the provision provided by the SG, because without those subsidies that life line service for a lot of islanders wouldn’t exist.

    Here’s a wee bit of background which I’ve cut and pasted and hopefully not stepped on anyone’s toes.

    oc.jpg

    It was 1957 that the Arran crossing became a modern car ferry service, upon the introduction of the now much-missed Glen Sannox. Initially Arran was served in the summer from Ardrossan and in winter from the more sheltered pier at Fairlie a few miles up the Ayrshire coast. Hoist loading was the order of the day for the first 13 years of car ferry operation, as neither terminal had a linkspan.

    The Glen sannox was a fast vessel, achieving around 18 knots when she entered service. Because of this and her substantial passenger complement (1100) she became a popular ferry with islanders and tourists over the years. However, over the years she did encounter one main problem; her hoist – or rather the limitations it imposed. Being hydraulically operated it became slower moving and at low tides especially this led to substantial delays, often for tourists returning to the mainland at the end of a weekend.

    It was in 1969 that a replacement vessel of drive through capabilities was purchased. The new ferry was formerly known as the Stena Baltica and after some months undergoing safety modifications, she took over the Ardrossan – Brodick crossing at the end of May 1970 as the Caledonia, reviving a name that had only been taken out of use the previous season.

    Equipped with a visor, bow and stern ramps, the Caledonia could complete the crossing in just under an hour and required much less in the way of turnround time compared to her predecessor. She did have one fairly major drawback in that her vehicle capacity was only for about 40 cars and 650 passengers during the summer (less than 150 in winter). Before too long it was clear that another solution was required.

    ​From the summer of 1976, Arran was served by the converted ferry Clansman which could carry significantly more cars than the smaller Caledonia, although the latter would resume the route during the winter seasons until that of 1983/84. The Clansman remained on the Clyde’s longest crossing until the end of 1983 when a new, purpose-built ships was launched for impending entry into service.
    The Isle of Arran maintained the main Arran crossing for nine years and set a new level of passenger comfort when she entered service – something which was repeatedly improved upon with subsequent launches.

    Isle of Arran, like her two recent predecessors, used her bow visor and ramp at Ardrossan (or Gourock in inclement weather) and her stern at Brodick to load up to 76 cars on each sailling. But even with this level of capacity for cars, traffic levels still continued to increase and the Isle of Arran fell victim to her own success and so in 1993 she was cast aside in favour of the brand new Caledonian Isles – by far the grandest ship to serve Arran in terms of facilities on board, but not necessarily the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye!

    The new arrival incorporated an intermediate level car deck to increase her capacity to 110 and her passenger accommodation was suitable for almost 1000 – only 100 short of the old Glen Sannox complement. In the first few seasons, the giant new ferry would be relieved by either her predecessor or the general relief vessel Iona.

    After ten years on the crossing, the Caledonian Isles had, like all her predecessors, seen traffic levels rise during her employment there. In 2004 there was growing speculation that interests in Kintyre were eyeing up the Arran route with a view to running a rival ferry service, utilising former fleet member Claymore. This may or may not have led CalMac to announce that they would be running a two-ship service to Arran during the summer months in 2005. Their plan involved upgrading the Saturn, newly released from the Upper Clyde by the arrival of Bute, to Class III standard and deploying her as second ferry, based in Brodick. The deployment was officially a trial at first, but perhaps inevitably Saturn found herself returning in the summer months thereafter.

    The two-ship situation has continued every summer since and following Finlaggan’s introduction at Islay in 2011, the Brodick based second vessel role fell to Isle of Arran. In addition to serving Arran she also began a further trial service and this saw her sailing three times a week from Ardrossan to Campbeltown, returning the following morning and calling in at Brodick on her inward Saturday 

    Golfnut

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  2. Would Neil Arthur be the gentleman who complained on here that the same vessel had been exactly the same 20 minutes late all day coming into Brodick ?

    The similarity of narrative from representatives of various Ferry User Groups in the media suggests orchestration and coordination, much as previously experienced from Poison Pennington and his merry band of mayhem……

    I read Neil Arthur’s letter in an archive of the Herald, in which he lists ” several aspects of this that are broken beyond repair “, 8 in all –

    ” 1, The current tripartite arrangement (TS, CMAL & CalMac).
    2, Quick turnover of transport ministers, with an average time in post of approximately one year.
    3, Too many people, at all levels in the system, who haven’t got a clue about what ferry services are about.
    3, The nationalisation of Fergusons and a suggestion that the yard should be awarded future contracts despite its record.
    4, The CHFS contract model and refusal by ministers to review it, alter it or at least debundle it.
    5, Those making disastrous decisions in recent years should not escape sacking because of their failure. To date no one has lost their job over the shambles.
    6, As an example, I give you Exhibit “A”: the recent decision to procure the new CalMac £18.5 million ticketing and booking system, with six years to implement it, without being “road-tested” prior to going live. It is patently not fit for purpose, never was, and never will be.
    7, CMAL’s CEO Kevin Hobbs (a mining engineer) boasts that there will be six new vessels in service by 2026. This demonstrates a complete disconnect with what island communities are currently experiencing after years of incompetence.
    8, The ultimate insult must be the recent revelation that some CalMac directors have not set foot on an island or even a ferry. “

    Number 8 is beyond scraping the bottom of the hyperbole barrel even for Neil Arthur, we all live on islands….

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    1. Doesn’t appear to be much in there that could even at a stretch apply to service provision other than rather spurious complaints directed at Calmac management and government Ministers.

      What type of service do these people want, because as a frequent user of these services my lived experience doesn’t match the crap.

      Golfnut.

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  3. 14 to 16 ferries a day for an island with less than 5,000 inhabitants? it seems a fantastic service to me.

    for comparison, Shetland with 23,000 inhabitants has 2.

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  4. It is the fabrications and lies that really get to me. These outlets are apparently allowed to describe themselves as ‘newspapers’ i.e. they report ‘news’, not create it.

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  6. “Labour donor bags plum UK Treasury job . Banker Ian Corfield is appointed to a top role in the civil service just months after donating thousands of pounds to Chancellor Rachel Reeves”

    So where’s the “Change” here then. As in that “Change” which we were promised from the Labour party if they were elected as the next new UK government .

    How is this a “Change” to the corrupt cronyism behaviour that we all witnessed with the Tory party.

    Is this appointment by Labour not reminiscent of what we regularly saw happening with the Tory party ?

    In May 2022 it was reported by The Guardian newspaper that two donors who gave the Tory party £1 million between them were handed prominent public Health jobs.

    So now with Labour as the party in government we have a Déjà vu moment on par with the Tory party in government in that they too are also rewarding their donors with a lucrative return on their investments (Donations to Labour party).

    So no “Change” there then from the Labour party (from the previous Tory UK government) is it.

    Also been reported in July 2024 that “Labour declared more donations than all other parties combined during the general election campaign, taking more than £9.5m in total“

    Now that was formerly something the Tory party excelled at as in they received more donations than other parties .

    That was until Sir Keir Starmer convinced more of those ‘money people’ (Wealthy) that he had now transformed what was formerly the old Labour party under Corbyn into the new Red Tory party (Tory party in all but party name).

    No wonder they, Labour, swamped social media with so much political ads during their GE campaign as seems they had more than enough money to do so thanks to their vast donations.

    Money may indeed talk but it also appears that with Labour talk is cheap as they are failing to act upon that which they ‘talked’ about during their GE campaign in them actually failing to fulfil some of the various pledges they made if elected. ( “Do from day one” I think was a phrase Starmer often used in his campaign speeches yet we are still waiting on action materialising upon some of those promises/pledges he made which he said would be immediate)

    Yes we are still waiting for the “Change” and “Fresh start” to begin. As currently all we seem to be getting from Labour so far is the exact same excuses the Tory party used when they were in power . Where they, the Tories, blamed the previous Labour government for the state of the treasury finances and also the run down public services. ( Constant Tit for Tat with the both of them while the public are the ones who must suffer constant bad UK governments with them both using weak excuses and blaming each other for their own failings)

    Austerity has begun already and I fear that there is no chance for Waspi women to see justice, even though many Labour MP’s and MSP’s were most vocal during the Tory reign as the UK government, in that they, Labour politicians, demanded justice from the Tories be swiftly served for the Waspi women.

    Just as it seems to be there will be no respite or justice for the poorer families who will still have to suffer the Tory instigated and implemented two child benefit cap as the new Labour UK government want to retain it, as they now apparently are, via their actions or rather lack of action, the new Tories in the UK (via words & actions it seems).

    Labour party now proving that they, like the Tory party, are ‘Leopards who can’t change their spots” (never mind “Change” how they behave as the new UK government).

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