Thanks to JB for this link.

From BC Ferries (Canada) January 31st 2024, the above aging fleet. CalMac has no large ferries over 50, only the about to be retired MV Isle of Arran at 41. All of the others are less than 40 and only five are over 25.

There are six new larger ferries, built on the Clyde and in Turkey, due in service within the next year or so. BC Ferries will have none before 2030.

BC Ferries has spent more than $130m on maintenance in the last 5 years, so perhaps $260m in the 10 years in which CalMac spent nearly £100m on its larger 8? On that basis CalMac’s expenditure seems less ‘eyewatering ‘ than the Guardian suggests?

A fascinating detail from the BC Ferries report –

Over the previous five years, our Coastal Class ships made over 13,000 sailings, with a technical reliability rate of 99.3 per cent.

‘Technical’ reliability, eh? I’d like to see the formula for that.

Source: https://www.bcferries.com/web_image/h19/h60/8993956593694.pdf