Exclusive:Ferry chiefs reveal when CalMac's next new fleet will arrive - days before first vessel's passenger debut
Isle of Islay due to carry its first passengers this week
All four of CalMac's Turkish-built ferries should reach Scotland within a year - five months ahead of schedule - as the first one prepares to enter passenger service this week.
The 450-passenger Isle of Islay vessel is due to start sailing between Kennacraig in Kintyre and Port Askaig in Islay by Friday.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Government’s ferry-buying arm expects the remaining three vessels to arrive by next February, providing a significant boost for CalMac which is struggling to maintain services because of an increasingly unreliable and ageing fleet.
The operator said having all four in service would be a “game changer”.
The latest delivery timescale is five months earlier than the previous schedule but still a year later than originally planned because of supply chain delays caused by wars and a major earthquake in Turkey.
The news follows Isle of Islay arriving in Greenock last month after a four-week storm-battered voyage from the Cemre shipyard in Yalova that took twice as long as expected.
The firm which ordered the vessel said its design included increasing the amount of natural light in the ship, which would made a “huge difference” to passengers.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) said the second ferry, Loch Indaal, which is also earmarked for the route, should be completed as planned in June or July.
The others were due to follow at six-month intervals , but Cmal chief executive Kevin Hobbs told The Scotsman that the third vessel, Lochmor, is now expected in October or November, and the fourth next February.
They are both due to serve the “Skye triangle” routes to Harris and North Uist.
Mr Hobbs said: “Loch Indaal is coming on really well and indeed so is the other vessel that’s in the water [Lochmor] and the one that’s still to be launched [Claymore, on May 2].
He said Cemre had retained workers after completing other orders “to flood our vessels and the other vessels that are in the yard with people to try and claw back time.”
Cmal will hope Isle of Islay proves more reliable than CalMac’s year-old ferry Glen Sannox, which returned to service in Arran last week following the latest of a series of repairs which have kept it out of action for a quarter of its operational life.
Mr Hobbs said of Isle of Islay: “There is nothing that is giving us any causes for concern.
“There is a list, inevitably, going back to lessons learned, of issues that have arisen, but at the moment they are negligible.
“We are very clear that in an ideal world we wanted all four of these ships in the same calendar year.
“Whether we get the last one then is 50/50 but it’s not going to be later than March next year.”
But Mr Hobbs does not expect the Iran war to put the delivery dates back.
He said: “The real delays were in the supply chain, and everything for all of those ships is already in Turkey.”
A CalMac spokesperson said: "These four vessels will see one third of our major vessel fleet renewed.
“In allowing us to cascade vessels across different routes, they will benefit not only their routes of service but the wider network.
“Once all four are in service, we will also benefit from having a permanent major resilience vessel in the fleet and this will be a game changer for our ability to maintain services during overhauls and times of disruption.”
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