Tag: adventure

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The ferry new build and maintenance delays reported so feverishly by media are covered by other vessels and have not affected CalMac’s performance – 98% of sailings completed and 99% of those on time

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald and BBC Scotland continue to deceive with selective reporting of the availability of particular vessels with sensationalist headlines hiding the fact that ferry services are largely unaffected by these as CalMac’s large fleet provides reliable cover. That they are deliberately making up a picture of unreliability due to a few maintenance and new build delays and implying that these result in a loss of service is simply countered by data, in the public domain, which they choose to ignore. CalMac is obliged to publish ‘contractual reliability‘ data (sailings completed as a percentage of those … Continue reading The ferry new build and maintenance delays reported so feverishly by media are covered by other vessels and have not affected CalMac’s performance – 98% of sailings completed and 99% of those on time

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The last word on the damaging misrepresentation of Scotland’s ferries – cheaper, safer, more inclusive and more popular than any other public service

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This first appeared in the June edition of Scots Independent Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve written on ferry services, globally, more times than I can remember in vain attempt to get the Herald and other media to stop publishing downright lies about CalMac which inevitably must be seeping into the public consciousness and, I feel sure, damaging the confidence of travellers from all over the UK and beyond with negative economic consequences for the islands. I’ve tried to put CalMac’s relatively minor problems into a global context, revealing the very real crises in affluent societies from British Columbia, through Washington … Continue reading The last word on the damaging misrepresentation of Scotland’s ferries – cheaper, safer, more inclusive and more popular than any other public service

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Isle of Wight ferry users have been paying far more than Scots for 75 years now!

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Professor John Robertson OBA, Honest Ferry Correspondent From Isle of Wight County Press, yesterday: 75 years ago, in May 1950: The cost of ferry fares were a source of grievance. Mr. H. Frohock, of St. Alban’s guest house, Shanklin, sent a letter to the County Press asking why it cost £3 to cross the Solent, when it only cost 5s (25p) to cross the Firth of Forth. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/island-ferries-a-source-of-grievance-50-years-ago/ar-AA1FRdHy?ocid=BingNewsVerp 12 times more expensive! Things have actually improved relatively for the folk travelling to the Isle of Wight. It’s only 4 times more expensive these days. See: ‘Ferry cost stopped us booking a holiday to … Continue reading Isle of Wight ferry users have been paying far more than Scots for 75 years now!

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Our ferries are subsidised at nearly £1 billion, never full and the Arran vessels are mostly less than half full, but are they grateful? Well yes they are if you read the previous posts

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Professor John Robertson OBA We regularly see media reports of long car queues for Scotland’s ferries presented as if somehow the Scottish Government has failed to run the service properly. We never, to my knowledge, see these basic facts about the actual utilisation of car deck space and passenger seat take-up despite the presence of such data in the public domain, published by CalMac because they are legally obliged to. They paint a very different picture of the capacity of the service we all fund at considerable expense for no apparent thanks from those island ‘representatives’ regularly platformed across the … Continue reading Our ferries are subsidised at nearly £1 billion, never full and the Arran vessels are mostly less than half full, but are they grateful? Well yes they are if you read the previous posts

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South Uist islanders get a free lift to Oban cutting their travel time and effort to Glasgow but John Daniel Peteranna is still not happy and tells a big fat lie about the extra crossing time, unchecked by BBC Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Bob Lamont for alerting me to this. From BBC Scotland today: South Uist has been under particular pressure recently as state-owned ferry operator CalMac struggles with a shortage of ships while it awaits replacements for its ageing fleet. Winter maintenance has uncovered new problems with several vessels, forcing CalMac to rejig its schedules and move ferries onto different routes. Instead of sailing to Mallaig, it travels to Oban, 85 miles away from the normal scheduled port, which adds more than four hours to the crossing time. John Daniel Peteranna, from the South Uist Business … Continue reading South Uist islanders get a free lift to Oban cutting their travel time and effort to Glasgow but John Daniel Peteranna is still not happy and tells a big fat lie about the extra crossing time, unchecked by BBC Scotland

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Islanders furious as New Zealand government’s ‘dilly-dallying’ gets it into $800 million (£600 million) cancellation debt without even a contract signed for new ferries to replace the unsafe ones still being used

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Professor John Robertson OBA From NBR in March 2025, the above. What happened? From the New Zealand Herald: Within months of unceremoniously scrapping the previous Government’s iRex project, Finance Minister Nicola Willis was advised by the crack team, set up by herself, to go back to try to salvage something with the scorned shipbuilder. This new figure of $800 million is a shock after earlier reports: New documents reveal the coalition has set aside $300 million to cover broken infrastructure contracts and a break-fee with Hyundai, after the government ended a contract with the Korean company to build two new Interislander ferries. … Continue reading Islanders furious as New Zealand government’s ‘dilly-dallying’ gets it into $800 million (£600 million) cancellation debt without even a contract signed for new ferries to replace the unsafe ones still being used

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On Malta, timetables are purely expressions of intent – ferries leave when they are ready and if the gangway has not fallen into the sea

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By JB Didn’t see this across ‘our’ media, after all The herald and STV, are shouting about “new direct flights from Glasgow to ‘fantastic’ holiday destination” Glasgow Airport sees new twice-weekly Malta flight launched | The Herald Ryanair announces new direct flights to Malta | STV News People stranded at Gozo fast ferry terminals after gangway falls in sea. No politician, no MP, no council, no councillor, no government or government official and no ferry operator blamed.  From The Times of Malta 2 March 2025. People stranded at Gozo fast ferry terminals after gangway falls in sea  Voyages were cancelled … Continue reading On Malta, timetables are purely expressions of intent – ferries leave when they are ready and if the gangway has not fallen into the sea

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No cheap, sickly, unreliable catamaran ferries for Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA, Navel Architect From the Bournemouth Daily Echo, two days ago: The Condor Liberation has made its final passage through Poole Harbour and out to sea. The ferry made its final departure from Poole at around 10am on Friday morning, March 28,, escorted through the harbour by a flotilla of our Harbour Master’s team and other working vessels, paying tribute to her years of service.1 How many years of service? Originally named Austal 102, it was built Austal at its shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia as a speculative order. It was launched in January 2010 and was laid up at the shipyard … Continue reading No cheap, sickly, unreliable catamaran ferries for Scotland

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Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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Professor John Robertson OBA, International Ferry Correspondent From ITV today: DFDS has cancelled its sailings between Jersey and St Malo for the first day it serves the island. The Danish firm, taking over from Condor, says the cancellations on Friday 28 March are due to “technical issues” with preparing one of their ferries, the Tarifa Jet, to run to and from Jersey. https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-03-27/dfds-cancels-sailing-between-jersey-and-france-on-opening-day Surely they checked the boat out a few days beforehand, to enable a professional start to the contract? Kind of makes you think they must be a rubbish company putting profits ahead of passengers? There were warnings. Only two … Continue reading Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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They’re never going to tell you about this – 100% seen within the target for years, 79% waiting less than half the target time and numbers well above pre-pandemic levels – Scotland’s IVF programme creating and saving live

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve been reporting this success story, unique to Scotland, for years and BBC Scotland never reports it. From Public Health Scotland today: During the current quarter, 78.7% of patients who attended a screening appointment waited 26 weeks or less, 16.4% waited between 27 and 39 weeks and 4.9% between 40 and 52 weeks. No patients waited more than 52 weeks to be screened. 1 Note in the graph above: And from Fertility Scotland: Scotland is proud to be the only UK nation to provide up to three full IVF/ICSI cycles on the NHS for eligible couples with some of the highest … Continue reading They’re never going to tell you about this – 100% seen within the target for years, 79% waiting less than half the target time and numbers well above pre-pandemic levels – Scotland’s IVF programme creating and saving live