In the Herald today:
One of Caledonian MacBrayne’s oldest and largest ferries is due to return to service eight months after it was drydocked for repairs. The ageing MV Caledonian Isles is expected to begin sailing routes to Arran next week once sea trials are completed.
The ‘oldest, ‘ageing’ MV Caledonian Isles was launched in 1993 and is now 31 years old.
The privatised Washington State Ferries, USA, in a far more affluent place than Scotland, has 11 ferries older than the MV Caledonian Isles, 6 of them launched before 1970, 54 years ago.
The privatised BC Ferries in Vancouver, Canada, another more affluent area than Scotland, has 16 ferries older than the Caledonian Isles with the comparably large MV Queen of New Westminster, 60 years old and still serving a major route.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
This may be of interest in reinforcing relevant perspective!
Source: UN Trade and Investment (27 September 2023) REVIEW OF MARITIME TRANSPORT
2023 (https://unctad.org/publication/review-maritime-transport-2023 )
This statistical report includes an account of the age profile of the world’s fleet. Table 2.3 in the report gives ‘Age of world merchant fleet, by vessel type and flag of registration, years and dead weight tons, 2022 and 2023’
It doesn’t specifically report on ‘ferries’ but nevertheless …
General cargo ships:
Percentage of total general cargo ships older than 20 years = 57.2%
Average age in 2023 = 27.4 years
‘Other types of ships’ (excluding oil tankers, general cargo ships, container ships, bulk carriers):
Percentage of total ‘others’ older than 20 years = 47%
Average age in 2023 = 24.2 years
Of ships registered in ‘developed economies’:
Percentage of total ‘all ships’ older than 20 years = 39.7%
Average age in 2023 = 21.4 years.
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The majority of people commenting on CalMac have no concept of engineering and comment on the propaganda spoon fed to them by the Lomdon media. Calmac operate a pro active maintenance plan. This is the exact same on a larger scale as car servicing. The way the media like to spoon feed their followers is that CalMac carry out reactive maintenance. Unfortunately mechanical parts have a life span like any other material and will eventually wear out. I’ve been in engineering since 1978 and listening to uneducated people who have no concept of this really makes my blood boil.
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Worth noting.
Currently, just over 19 percent of the Royal Navy’s major surface combatants are active or immediately deployable. If ships in maintenance are included, that figure reaches around 43 percent.
This percentage reflects the rigorous demands and complexities associated with maintaining a fleet and crew availability.
I’m not sure that the demands placed upon RN vessels are more vigorous than a ferry expected to make 8 sailings per day 365 days a year and maintain a high level of passenger and load safety.
Golfnut
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The cost/benefit analysis of continuing to operate with older vessels or not is non-trivial and a widespread issue for consideration in both naval and merchant shipping. Some examples to illustrate:
Source 1) Defence News (June 7, 2018) The US Navy’s fleet is getting old. It might get a lot older.
‘The U.S. Navy is considering extending the service life of all its ships by at least seven years, and could stretch the life of some ships by 13 years, according to an internal document produced by Naval Sea Systems Command.
‘The analysis, first obtained by the military blog CDR Salamander, shows that as part of the Navy’s effort to grow the fleet to 355 ships, the service is eyeing extending the lives of the non-nuclear surface ships in the fleet. It also means some active ships could be as much as 53 years old.’ (my emphasis)
Source 2) Lu et al (2021) Ship service life extension considering ship condition and remaining design life. Marine Structures Vol. 78.
‘Driven by the rising cost of newbuilding ships, maintenance actions are needed on existing ships to ensure safe and enduring service beyond their initial design life. Extending ship service life can provide economic operating profit and promote sustainability. Meanwhile, ships during their extended service life may involve higher failure risk and additional maintenance expenditure. Therefore, a cost-benefit evaluation is imperative for determining the optimal duration of service life extension (SLE) and the associated maintenance actions.’
And: ‘The rising cost of newbuilding ships and the adequate functionality of many old ships give rise to a growing trend of extending the service life of ships beyond their initial design life, usually through more prudent maintenance activities’.
Source 3) From the specialist website ‘Ship Universe ‘ published May 9, 2024: ‘Retrofitting Older Vessels vs. New Builds’.
’In the maritime industry, shipowners face a critical decision when their vessels age: invest in new builds or retrofit existing ships. This choice impacts not only financial outlays but also operational efficiency and compliance with increasing environmental regulations.
‘Below, we summarize the primary advantages and disadvantages of each option, helping owners make informed decisions based on their specific needs and future outlook.’
See the article at the link for the detailed and balanced assessment of decision making factors for ship owners.
https://www.shipuniverse.com/retrofitting-older-vessels-vs-new-builds/
However in Scotland, journalists, opposition politicians and others prefer to consider such matters as trivial and their perceived ‘correct’ decision as always obvious!
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Aye, Jody Harrison is working overtime in that article to imply a problem over age, his ” Almost 20 of CalMac’s 31 working ferries that were in service in 2021 and deployed across Scotland are now over 25 years old ” particularly convoluted but not actually drawing any conclusion…
I dare say the proportion is even higher for Herald journalists, it would be no great loss to Scots if they were scrapped whatever their age….
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