CalMac's newest ferry Isle of Islay stormbound off Morocco on 3,000-mile voyage home
Vessel heading for shelter in Spanish port on trip from Turkish shipyard
CalMac’s newest ferry was heading for shelter in a Spanish on Friday after being stormbound off Morocco during its 3,000-mile voyage from a Turkish shipyard to Scotland.
Isle of Islay left the Yalova yard on January 22 and had been due to arrive in Greenock around Thursday but has been delayed by bad weather.
The ferry arrived in Gibraltar on Sunday, its second scheduled stop after Catania in Italy, for refuelling.
It left Gibraltar on Tuesday and was off the Moroccan coast on Wednesday to shelter from Storm Leonardo, which is pounding Spain and Portugal.
CalMac said it was safer than berthing.
In an update on Friday, the firm said the ferry was heading to Almeria in Spain, east of Gibraltar, for “safe berthing”.
Its spokesperson said: “Conditions at sea have been challenging for several days, with many ports in southern Spain entirely closed.
“The vessel will remain at Almeria until conditions improve and she'll then continue her voyage back to Scotland."
CalMac said it was unable to provide a revised arrival date in Scotland until it had a clearer view of weather conditions to complete the journey.
The 450-passenger vessel is expected to enter service between Kennacraig in Kintyre and Port Askaig in Islay in late March, around six weeks after arrival.
Isle of Islay will go to the Inchgreen dock in Greenock for the final installation of equipment such as computer systems and emergency drills such as testing the vessel’s marine evacuation system.
The ferry was completed 15 months late because of supply chain problems and workers being redeployed to assist with a major earthquake in Turkey.
A CalMac spokesperson had told The Scotsman on Wednesday: “The vessel made it to Gibraltar on schedule but is stormbound due to poor local weather and sea conditions.
“Isle of Islay is built to cope with wave heights of 3.5m but we are seeing waves of more than 6m in the area we need to travel through.”
The CalMac spokesperson said: “Ahead of departing Turkey, CalMac engaged an international agent to advise on the voyage and suitable berths and we're continuing to take advice from them on that. It's common in global shipping to use such agencies for long voyages.
“There has been some crew familiarisation on the vessel's voyage home but, as a first-in-class vessel for CalMac, a six-week delivery to operations programme will start when she's back in Scotland, incorporating familiarisation on route of service and network-wide trials.”
Isle of Islay is the first of four of a new class of CalMac ferries being built at the yard, with the second, Loch Indaal, expected to be completed in July, also for the Islay route.
The others, Lochmor and Claymore, are scheduled to be completed at six month intervals after that for the Skye-Harris-North Uist route.
They can also carry 100 cars or 14 lorries - 40 per cent more than the Islay route’s current vessels.
Recep Portakal, a project manager at the Cemre yard which is building the ferries, said: “We reflected both Scottish culture and the colours inspired by the distilleries on the islands throughout every stage of the design.
“Every detail within the accommodation areas carries a piece of Scotland.”
Isle of Islay’s arrival will be crucial in relieving pressure on CalMac, whose ageing fleet is stretched to the limit because of increasing unreliability and extended repairs and overhauls.
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