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Isle of Wight ferry firm Red Funnel does ‘one day diddle’ to conceal ‘everyone taking a large cut out of the dividend’

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From Isle of Wight County Press today: Questions continue to be asked about the finances of Red Funnel after the Isle of Wight ferry firm shortened its accounting reference period for 2022/2023, by one day. It is the third time in two years the company has filed for what is colloquially known as a ‘one day diddle’. It means the cross-Solent operator has yet to publish its financial results for the 2022/2023 financial year. Red Funnel failed to respond to the County Press’s questions, asking why it had shortened the date. https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/24833333.isle-wight-ferry-firm-red-funnel-questioned-accounting-change/ Why might they do that? The Press offers: According to data intelligence company Red Flag Alert, … Continue reading Isle of Wight ferry firm Red Funnel does ‘one day diddle’ to conceal ‘everyone taking a large cut out of the dividend’

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CalMac ferries so generously subsidised and over-sized that tiny winter island traffic is unaffected by a temporary safety limit

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Today headlining on the BBC Scotland website: CalMac cuts passenger numbers over safety failure They open with: Ferry operator CalMac has been forced to cut passengers numbers on its MV Isle of Mull vessel to just 45 after it failed a safety check. Problems were identified with the ship’s evacuation system during its annual overhaul. CalMac has confirmed passenger numbers must be temporarily limited to reflect the spaces available on its lifeboats. BBC Scotland open with the above before going on to milk the story for a further 7 paragraphs before this: CalMac says passenger bookings on the Lochboisdale route … Continue reading CalMac ferries so generously subsidised and over-sized that tiny winter island traffic is unaffected by a temporary safety limit

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Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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People injured after P&O cruise ship involved in ‘weather-related incident’ in Mallorca As CalMac cancels sailings today, It’s worth remembering incidents like the above in 2023. Leaving aside weather cancellations for winds above 45knots, how does CalMac do, while keeping everyone safe? Take the much talked-about Arran service? 97% on time: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://assets.calmac.co.uk/media/lbwmmqfn/arran-oct-24.pdf With the weather cancellations included, still 85%. I’ll leave you to check the others at: https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/service-status/#/service-status How does the comparable BC Ferries in wealthy Canada do? There have been several deaths associated with BC Ferries, including the drowning of a worker in 2020 and the sinking of the MV … Continue reading Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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Why building CalMac ferries, quicker and cheaper in Turkey might not have been such a good idea after all

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From STV on 28th March 2024, as a media frenzy risked the future of commercial shipbuilding in the Clyde, just to attack the SNP Government, in support of the 2024 General Election Labour campaign: All four Calmac ferries being built in Turkey ‘are on time and on budget’ By August 2024, the Herald told us: Four ferries being built in Turkey for CalMac will be delayed, with the first having been due to be delivered this month. MV Isle of Islay was due to be delivered by mid-October, but it was announced in August that it would not be delivered … Continue reading Why building CalMac ferries, quicker and cheaper in Turkey might not have been such a good idea after all

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Canadian ferry service prices to rise 30% to cope with 16 aging vessels 30 decrepit terminals

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From the Vancouver Sun, yesterday: The CEO of B.C. Ferries is warning the company may need to increase fares by 30 per cent or more in 2028, when its current fare structure expires. Nicolas Jimenez says in a written statement the provincially owned corporation had forecast last year that such a price rise would be needed to keep up with operating and capital costs. But, he said costs since then have jumped, including a 40 per cent increase in shipbuilding expenses since 2020. The rising costs have created “a growing funding gap” that Jimenez says will require “a sustainable funding … Continue reading Canadian ferry service prices to rise 30% to cope with 16 aging vessels 30 decrepit terminals

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NHS Scotland seeing far more, per head, within crucial 18 weeks target

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland today: Of all pathways completed, 85.7% (242,384) were fully measurable against the 18-week standard. 68.1% (164,983) of these pathways were completed within 18 weeks of referral, an increase from 65.5% in the previous quarter.1 From the Nuffield Trust in April 2024, the most recent comparable data I can find, the equivalent figure was only 57%.2 Put simply, if NHS Scotland had been led by a Conservative government, 8-9% of the 242 384 referred, around 20 000 patients, would have waited longer than they did in Scotland. Why does the 18 week target matter … Continue reading NHS Scotland seeing far more, per head, within crucial 18 weeks target

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Large complex new ferry comes into service in best ferry service in the World

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By Professor John Robertson, Genuine Ferry Correspondent BBC Scotland’s welcome for the largest and most advanced ferry ever in the UK, massively subsidised to keep workers in jobs and give islanders a cheap service to locations, privately owned systems across the globe would just abandon, is typically grudging and saturated with cringe: Ferries saga ship Glen Sannox finally delivered, The long-delayed ship at the centre of Scotland’s ferries saga has been handed over by the Ferguson shipyard, exactly seven years after it was launched. Got any evidence? Just this, all of this: First, The MV Caledonian Isles was taken off the Arran/Ayrshire … Continue reading Large complex new ferry comes into service in best ferry service in the World

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Has a 73 year-old, part-time OCD, retired prof, beaten the Herald into submission as they scuttle their troubled ferry fiasco newsletter?

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By Captain Professor John Robertson OBA Where’s the link to the Herald’s much-vaunted Ferries Newsletter? From TuS reader Stephen McKenzie, today: Slightly off topic, but the Heralds “Scotland’s Ferries” tab at the top of their on-line version seems to be missing these days? Ok, I know that when you clicked it, it took you to any topic unrelated to ferries, but that was part of its fun appeal. Good question. Gooood question. It’s not in the banner. It’s not listed as a newsletter at: https://www.heraldscotland.com/newsletters/ Has Captain Maritime Williams of the BS Herald gone down? With his ‘ship?’ I’ve written nearly 170 … Continue reading Has a 73 year-old, part-time OCD, retired prof, beaten the Herald into submission as they scuttle their troubled ferry fiasco newsletter?

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EXCLUSIVE – What will Rachel Reeves say as nearly 10 times as many per head wait for social care assessment in England than in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today has: EXCLUSIVE – Over 5,000 Scots waiting for NHS social care assessment Seems a lot doesn’t it? You know where I’m going; where the Herald never goes. All things being equal, per head, that’d be around 50 000 waiting in England but, oh no, shock horror, from the latest data, it’s As of March 2023, 430,000 people were waiting for an adult social care assessment, care, or direct payment in England. This was down from 542,000 in April 2022 https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/social-care-360-access#:~:text=a%20reduction%20in%20the%20number,the%20end%20of%20March%202023. A TEN times longer waiting list, per head, pro rate, proportionally. Wait, does that mean the … Continue reading EXCLUSIVE – What will Rachel Reeves say as nearly 10 times as many per head wait for social care assessment in England than in Scotland

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Government of Tasmania bedevilled by costly ferry ‘stuff up’ to rival New Zealand’s $3 billion ferrymageddon and to make the Arran Ferry Fiasco one of those things in a teacup

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Regulars here will know that New Zealand’s lifeline Cook Straits ferry system is in a real crisis as the Government refuses to pay $3 billion for 2 new ferries. Just round the corner in Tasmania, population 573 000, 12 times that of Arran but like Arran, relying on two ‘lifeline’ ferries, there’s a ‘stuff-up’ (Worse than a fiasco or less bad?). Here’s the stuff-up, from Yahoo News yesterday: The start date for two new larger Bass Strait ferries has been pushed further back, with vital berth upgrades several years behind an already delayed schedule. Cost blowouts, finger pointing between state-owned … Continue reading Government of Tasmania bedevilled by costly ferry ‘stuff up’ to rival New Zealand’s $3 billion ferrymageddon and to make the Arran Ferry Fiasco one of those things in a teacup