CALMAC Ferries 'new boat' service starts

[Time Waster]

So if the boat cannot sail from Ardrossan, are the old boats still going to run from there or not? It suits us to use the Ardrossan crossing rather than Troon. Plus we know the way to Ardrossan.

 

[rualexander]

Pedantic or what?

No
The boat was launched years ago.

 

[Mike Ayling]

Good grief lol

> But the new ferry won't be sailing from Ardrossan - the main port of choice for the island. The design of the new ship means it can't berth at the North Ayrshire port until a major redevelopment is carried out. and Instead, the Glen Sannox - and sister ship MV Glen Rosa, which has yet to enter service - will set sail from Troon, with a longer crossing time for island residents and visitors.

https://www.ayradvertiser.com/news/...v-glen-sannox-set-take-passengers-first-time/

Tasmania has a similar problem.

 

[Brandane]

So if the boat cannot sail from Ardrossan, are the old boats still going to run from there or not? It suits us to use the Ardrossan crossing rather than Troon. Plus we know the way to Ardrossan.

The old "Caledonian Isles" ferry will sail from/to Ardrossan when (if) it returns to service in April, following repairs which have taken over a year.
However it is being replaced by the "Glen Rosa", identical sister of "Glen Sannox", in early 2026 (subject to expected delays in completion) at which point both ferries will run from Troon until Ardrossan port is upgraded.
Don't hold your breath for that happening, ever. Local expectations are that Ardrossan will be quietly dropped and Troon will take over.

 

[arranandy]

I'm hoping to travel on the new ferry this Saturday.

The whole thing has been a fiasco since the start. Every party involved is to blame to a greater or lesser extent

 

[Baldy]

I hear that the work at Ardrossan hasn't even been put out to tender yet. Given that the ferry was six years late, and they have known all along what size it was going to be. Seems like a glaring lack of planning on someone's part.

 

[Time Waster]

So the ferries were a mess up in procurement, then company making them got into serious financial trouble, the government took them over and the lead time and cost to build truly went up. Is that the gist of it? Has anyone at the top of the ferry builders, the government or the people who bought it from a company with issues actually faced any kind of sanction?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I’ll be on new ferry later this year

 

[Drago]

So the ferries were a mess up in procurement, then company making them got into serious financial trouble, the government took them over and the lead time and cost to build truly went up. Is that the gist of it? Has anyone at the top of the ferry builders, the government or the people who bought it from a company with issues actually faced any kind of sanction?

Of course not, but you can bet that if some office worker or dockyard welder dropped a clanger that cost £millions in losses then they'd be out on their ear.

CEO's and, politicians and senior civil servants are Teflon when it comes to such matters.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

The warranty's expired hasn't it.

 

[Jameshow]

So the ferries were a mess up in procurement, then company making them got into serious financial trouble, the government took them over and the lead time and cost to build truly went up. Is that the gist of it? Has anyone at the top of the ferry builders, the government or the people who bought it from a company with issues actually faced any kind of sanction?

They were speced to a stupid design using long / diesel which isnt standard diesel or diesel / electric that you would normally find this meant they were massively expensive and massively heavier so they couldn't fit the docks. Why they didn't buy some off the shelf sea cat type ferries for 1/4 of the price I don't know!!

 

[Time Waster]

The warranty's expired hasn't it.

Before it hit the water?!

 

[Brandane]

The warranty's expired hasn't it.

Apparently yes, on the engines. A 5 year warranty from whenever they were fitted, which was more than 5 years ago. Been sitting unused all that time while the fitting out was done.

 

[Time Waster]

They were speced to a stupid design using long / diesel which isnt standard diesel or diesel / electric that you would normally find this meant they were massively expensive and massively heavier so they couldn't fit the docks. Why they didn't buy some off the shelf sea cat type ferries for 1/4 of the price I don't know!!

Oh there's some political vote buying in the area they were built in the mix somewhere I reckon. Keep shipbuilding alive in Scotland. Only I bet no company wanting a ship will go to that company after this. Perhaps they'll get a sweet deal from the government to keep patching up, long past their service lifetime ferries because the government has been put off getting new ferries. I mean how much appetite is there left for any 4 times the budget and 7 years late ferry in Scotland? It's a vote lower for a new ferry contract to be placed. And you can be certain that if it did there'll be some requirement for Scottish made in there rather than a cost and time effective purchase when they do try to buy a new one.

How many calmac ferries are close to or over their service lifetime?

 

[Brandane]

How many calmac ferries are close to or over their service lifetime?

BBC News - The problem with CalMac's ageing ferries
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-61161932

2.5 year old article, so add that to the ferry ages. And this is only about the bigger ferries, the smaller ones serving more minor routes are in a bad way too.