Professor John Robertson OBA
It’s now around two years since I heard a local councillor from the Island of Mull on Radio Scotland, suggesting that CalMac ran the worst ferry service in the world and that they should try to learn from other ferry services in other countries.
I took him at his word and have monitored events from Alaska to New Zealand and, in the process found disaster after disaster, concerns far greater than reported here, from passengers killed by crew, through endless collisions and multiple fires to the more mundane, inflated prices, delays and really old ships. It’s only because I can find little evidence being reported on ferries in Scandinavia, that I cannot yet invert the councillors claim and assert that CalMac runs the best ferry service in the world, but I’m damned close to it.
Today, to further confirm my findings, a cluster of news reports from Canada with a GDP per head nearly twice that of the UK.
First, from CBS News, October 2024, the above image and:
‘What’s going on on these ships?’ Marine engineer questions Canada’s ferry safety – An on-board fire, a lost propeller, and a collision with a wharf have a marine engineer at Dalhousie University wondering what the federal government is doing to ensure that Canada’s ferries are safe.
Two of these acccidents happened this month. The Queen of New Westminster, which connects Vancouver Island to B.C.’s mainland, was pulled from service in the first week of September after a propeller sheared off during a crossing. On Sunday, the MV Confederation ferry, running between Nova Scotia and P.E.I., suffered a mechanical failure that caused it to slam into the wharf, punching a small hole in the bow. In 2022, the Holiday Island caught fire while crossing between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia. The ferry was evacuated and later scrapped.
Imagine this was in Scotland.
Second, from Global News, 4 months earlier:
Residents of Denman Island were venting their frustration on Thursday with the latest breakdown of a cable ferry serving the island. Mechanical issues side-lined the Baynes Sound Connector, which links Denman Island and Vancouver Island on Thursday morning. Mathis added that the cable ferry has been “reliably unreliable. This ferry breaks down so much that we already have ferry anxiety on the island,” she said.
So, a really lifeline service for an island comparable to Cumbrae which has 9 state-subsidised crossings daily from Largs, even in winter, but in Canada, it’s privately owned and has has maintenance neglected because profits come first. Imagine this was in Scotland.
Third, right across the country in Nova Scotia: ‘Complete insanity:’ No replacement ferry for Digby to Saint John run while Fundy Rose is in drydock until early December
From PNI Atlantic News, in November 2024:
The loss of the Digby to Saint John ferry service from Oct. 16 to Dec. 3, while the MV Fundy Rose is in drydock for mandatory routine inspection, is being called “complete insanity.”
“This is just like taking a piece of provincial highway out of circulation and saying no one needs to travel for the next few weeks. It’s complete insanity to think that they can disrupt transportation,” says Dan White, CEO of the West Nova Chamber of Commerce . “Taking out a piece of critical infrastructure is not acceptable.”
This is a population of 17 000, twice that of Arran, with no ferry service at all, for months To be fair, there is a 256 mile, 4 hours by car if you’re fast, or a 4 bus, 37 hour route, for the elderly non-driver, if it’s clear, land route. Imagine this was in Scotland. Remember when the Calmac, Campbelltown to Ardrossan ferry which took longer than the bus, was cancelled?
Fourth, in December 2024, ‘Passenger recounts close call after B.C. ferry forced to drop anchor’
From Global News:
A passenger aboard a BC Ferry during this weekend’s windstorm is describing a nerve-wracking close call as the vessel arrived in Tsawwassen on Saturday. The Coastal Inspiration was forced to drop anchor as it arrived from Duke Point during the 3:15 p.m. sailing, coming within 100 metres of a rocky breakwater, according to passenger Doug Hallett. Hallett was on the vehicle deck at the time and said he noticed the lights of the nearby port terminal appeared to be sliding past the ferry unusually quickly as the vessel pulled into Tsawwassen.
“Shortly after that I heard this very long scraping noise, like metal on metal or something like that, and then we stopped,” he said. “I could see we were really close to the breakwater and I could see the searchlight from the BC Ferry as on the actual breakwater as well trying to figure out where they were.”
Imagine this was in Scotland.
More recently, in February 2025 – Frustration over B.C. Ferries cancelled sailings to Bowen Island [4 200 population], days after collision with 3 boats
Residents of Bowen Island in B.C.’s Lower Mainland are expressing their frustration after B.C. Ferries suspended service due to a mechanical issue — two days after an unrelated incident in which a ferry struck three docked boats. Taking a ferry is one of the only ways to access Bowen Island, which is three kilometres off West Vancouver and whose population of around 4,200 people regularly takes the 20-minute ferry to the mainland for work and school.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ferries-bowen-island-hits-boats-1.7450625
Imagine this was in Scotland.
Finally to confirm for yourself that Scotland’s current ‘ferry fiasco‘ is a media-constructed fantasy, try searching for ‘Scotland ferries’, then search again for the same, in the period 1997-2007 only. It’s like having a time machine as you travel to a place that apparently has very few ferries and certainly does not ever blame the Labour government for any problems with them.
Footnote – I’ve now looked at ferry services in New Zealand, Australia, Greece, Malta, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight, USA [3 states], Canada [3 regions] and Alaska. CalMac beats them all.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
I’ve tried to find a list of Norwegian ferry routes and eventually came up with this :
https://www.fergeruter.info/en
Seems to add up to 132 separate routes, so significantly more than Calmac, but most are fairly short fjord or lake crossings. I saw reference to many electric powered ferries so I suspect that being Norway they have a fairly strong rolling programme of replacement of ageing ferries. My experience of taking ferries there (at least on busy routes) is basically rock up and get on the next ferry, buy ticket as you drive on.
Can’t really comment on timeliness as not too concerned about this on a holiday! But I bet their safety is pretty good, just asa Calmac’s is.
Big Jon
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Apologies O/T
SKY News rolling headline report:
“Nicola Sturgeon ‘cleared’ in Police investigation”
BBC news state in their rolling headline on their news channel:
“Nicola Sturgeon faces no further police investigation”.
“Cleared” tells you acquitted, declared innocent not responsible.
“Faces no further police investigation” – suggests what ?
That the Police just gave up on proceeding with their investigating of her , so in writing it this way , the BBC are what ?
Attempting to infer that there was something there , but for whatever reason the police have now decided not to pursue it further.
Oh that sounds about right, NOT !
Words matter , that’s why the BBC always fails to spell it out in an accurate and clear manner, and so instead , when they write or speak about the SNP , they always ensure there is still some ambiguity.
As they , the BBC, prefer to suggest, infer and so leave it open for some of the public to come to their own conclusions and then allow them, as the public, to then decide what’s what.
A BBC article is currently on their website regarding this story where they also note that:
“Police also confirmed former SNP treasurer Colin Beattie was no longer under investigation”.
“No longer under investigation” said the “Police” in respect to the “SNP Treasurer , Colin Beattie” ?
So does that then mean he too was “cleared” but it seems that is terminology that the BBC will not use in this case.
Nicola Sturgeon was door stepped , of course she was, for reporters to then ask her how she felt about this where she told them “she had been told she was now “completely in the clear“.
So on the website Glenn Campbell has added his analysis to this story (while greetin into his sleeve).
Glenn reminded us of the blue tents (which many people in Scotland considered to be overkill, especially as no one had actually been killed , as in no bodies to be found in their garden), he also reminds us of the search of the SNP HQ office by the Police and he states “Nicola Sturgeon – who has always denied wrongdoing”, well she was right then Glenn as the Police have now “cleared” her. Hence this breaking news story on your employers website . Duh !
Glenn and his colleagues at BBC Scotland will still try to feast off Peter Murrell and try and keep the SNP and the NS connection, as will the political opportunists in the opposition parties, whose own parties are in the doldrums in the recent polling in Scotland.
So they, as opposition parties, will try to get mileage from what is surely, for the SNP as a political story, now, politically, a dead Horse for the opposition to try and still gain some political advantage on.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Anas Sarwar who was relying on both Nicola and Colin being both proven guilty in this police investigation so that they too would be referred to the courts, especially now that his party at HQ are showing people in Scotland “Who Labour truly are” , for those who amazingly still did not already know how bad Labour were and still are !
No comment by me on Mr Murrell , as this is still a ‘Live’ case but let’s see if newspapers, other media and also opposition politicians can adhere to the rules that apply to contempt of court and so keep their opinions and random speculations to themselves.
Something many of them have very much failed to do when this story first broke four years ago, when a non SNP member first made a complaint to the Police. Trial by media was rife and snide comments from the likes of Jackie Baillie in tweets were somehow exempt from punishment.
In 2023 she tweeted :
“Having qualified accounts is highly unusual. It points to a significant level of financial incompetence in the SNP which makes you wonder how they run the country. And with the Police investigating the inappropriate use of £600k what auditor would sign off their accounts”?
So how did that get ignored with her commentating via a tweet in June 2023, on this ‘Live’ case , and also before the police investigation was concluded ?
If I were Nicola Sturgeon I would be watchful of what is said and inferred by the media and opposition politicians from now on, if they overstep the mark than she should take them to task either legally or seek a public apology, as her reputation has been undeservedly tarnished by opportunists who have all behaved predictably in the same typical bad fashion as those with absolutely no class.
I always knew Nicola was innocent while the usual suspects were so so so desperate that she be totally destroyed as a politician and also as a person.
Vote SNP in 2026 to stop the other usual suspects from continuing to do what they always do, badly.
Liz S
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