CalMac's ageing ferries to steam to Mediterranean under sell-off plans
Summer use in “less punishing” waters on the horizon for decommissioned CalMac ferries
Veteran CalMac ferries could be cruising the Med rather than the Minch under plans to give them a new lease of life after being finally retired from service in Scotland.
Three of the west coast operator’s largest vessels, which are up to 42 years old, are due to be decommissioned over the next year before being sold or scrapped for recycling.
They are due to be replaced by new ferries, including three being completed in Turkey.
Their owner said the Mediterranean was the most likely destination if buyers could be found for Isle of Arran, built in 1984, Isle of Mull (1988) and Isle of Lewis (1995).
Several former CalMac vessels are still in service across the world, including Cameroon, some more than 60 years old, while one has become an unofficial tourist attraction after being wrecked on Cape Verde 12 years ago.
Kevin Hobbs, chief executive of Scottish Government firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal), which owns the CalMac fleet, told The Scotsman: “We might not consider they have got a future use in Scotland but other areas of the world have in the past shown interest, and we believe will show interest in the future.
“It’s highly likely the real interest would be shown in the Mediterranean because the weather conditions are a lot more benign, and such vessels are really only used there in the summer.
“There are very limited services through the winter to the islands because they are almost devoid of people.
“Using a vessel for only four or five months of the year is a lot different to expecting it to operate virtually year round.
“It’s highly unlikely anybody will buy them in northern Europe because the weather conditions are quite punishing.
“We are going through a tender process for a shop broker for up to eight years to put them on the market.
“Re-selling them might also get us some funds whereas recycling - especially if it involves towing them somewhere with a big sea-going tug - comes at a cost.
Hebridean Isles, the last CalMac ferry to be decommissioned, was towed to Denmark last October and almost entirely recycled, at no net cost.
It was not sold because the engine and generators were needed as spare parts for four other CalMac ferries.
Mr Hobbs said: “It was more valuable to the fleet than it was to potentially sell the vessel and lose that opportunity for all those spares.”
Former CalMac ferries still sailing include Columba, which was built in Aberdeen in 1964 and sold in 1989.
It was renamed Hebridean Princess and has since operated cruises in the Western and Northern Isles.
Troon-built Iona served various routes from 1970 until being sold to Pentland Ferries in 1997 to operate in Orkney, renamed Pentalina B.
It was sold to Cape Verde in 2009 before running aground on rocks in 2014, with the shipwreck now an unofficial tourist attraction.
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Suilven, which was built in Norway in 1974, ran on the Ullapool-Stornoway route before being sold to New Zealand in 1995 to operate between its North and South islands.
It moved to Fiji in 2012 where it capsized in a harbour three years later.
Saturn, built in Troon in 1978 for CalMac’s Clyde routes, was sold to Pentland Ferries in Orkney in 2015 and became Orcadia.
It was sold to Greece six years later and renamed Orion before moving to Cameroon in 2024 and becoming Orion K.
Meantime, Cmal is also hoping to sell some of CalMac’s smaller ferries when they are replaced by a new electric fleet being built in Poland, with the first due next year.
This follows the sale of several smaller CalMac vessels in the past. Three went to Ireland, including former Oban-Lismore vessel Eigg.
Mr Hobbs said: “Some of the smaller vessels can quite easily be repurposed for things like fish farms so we believe there is a market for those.
But if any don’t find buyers, they are smaller enough to be recycled in Scotland, at a yard in Rosneath, near Helensburgh.
Stuart Craig, membership secretary of the Clyde River Steamer Club, said: “Isle of Lewis could have another life elsewhere as she is younger than the rest - and a very fine ferry.
“Isle of Mull has been very reliable with a large passenger capacity, so would be of use too.
“But Isle of Arran is probably too old to be redeployed and I guess will go the same way as her pseudo-sister Hebridean Isles.”
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