DRIVE FOR CAR FERRY GATHERS PACE – AFTER SAFETY SCANDAL BOSS SUMMONED TO TOP-LEVEL GOVERNMENT MEETING
August 3, 2012
ANOTHER COURIER LOCAL NEWS EXCLUSIVE:
DUNOON is today edging closer to having a car ferry service reinstated on the town’s lifeline link with Gourock following a showdown meeting involving Infrastructure Minister Alex Neil and embattled Caledonian MacBrayne boss Archie Robertson.
It is understood that Mr Neil told the safety scandal-hit chief executive that he wants controversial lightweight tub MV Ali Cat replaced with a robust vehicle and passenger ship as soon as possible – and that consultants have been ordered to carry out a thorough search for a suitable ferry.
Robertson was summoned to the hush-hush talks at the Scottish Government’s offices in Atlantic Quay, Glasgow, on Wednesday evening after finally apologising for threatening to sue retired CalMac Marine Superintendent Sandy Ferguson over the Ali Cat safety debacle.
Captain Ferguson – who attended the meeting with Argyll and Bute MSP Michael Russell – today declined to go into detail about what was said to Robertson at the tense meeting but confirmed that he had left agreeing that a car ferry should now replace the Ali Cat.
Captain Ferguson said: “I can say that Alex Neil, who chaired the meeting, announced that he would like to see the Ali Cat replaced with a vehicle ferry and had consultants working at the minute trying to identify such a vessel.
“The Argyll Ferries delegation then confirmed that they would wish to operate a vehicle and passenger ferry on the Dunoon-Gourock route if a suitable ferry could be identified.”
Under-fire Robertson had previously tried to rubbish Captain Ferguson after he exposed the fact that the “not fit for purpose” Ali Cat is only permitted to sail in “favourable weather” – meaning “fine, clear and settled conditions” and a sea state which causes ”only moderate rolling and/or pitching” as a condition of a special exemption certificate which allows her to operate without any rescue boat onboard.
The ferries boss insisted that he knew about the restriction, but his leadership of CalMac is now being called into serious question after a probe carried by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency found that the boat’s masters “were not fully aware” of it.
An inspection of how the boat is operated on a daily basis led to an improvement notice being served on CalMac’s Argyll Ferries outfit amid concerns that passenger safety was being routinely put at risk.
It is understood that three senior MCA chiefs as well as CalMac chairman Peter Timms and Transport Scotland officials also attended the Atlantic Quay summit on Wednesday night.
We can reveal that Robertson – who had previously flatly refused to say sorry to Captain Ferguson and is yet to comment publicly on the scandal – wrote a letter of apology to him on 20 July.
Referring to his correspondence which threatened to take legal action against the widely respected master mariner, Robertson wrote: “I realise that the tone and assertiveness of my letter was not appropriate, and certainly not appropriate to communication what became as public as it has, and I apologise for this.”
Captain Ferguson – who shook hands with Robertson at Wednesday’s meeting – said: “I accept his apology.”
MSP Mr Russell – who fought on Captain Ferguson’s behalf on the issue – said: “I am pleased that CalMac has realised that the way Sandy was treated was very bad.
“But the important thing here is that Sandy was telling the truth about the safety and operational issues surrounding the Ali Cat.
“The company should now acknowledge that publicly and put it right.”
*All of our articles on this issue are still available to read on the website
17 Responses to “DRIVE FOR CAR FERRY GATHERS PACE – AFTER SAFETY SCANDAL BOSS SUMMONED TO TOP-LEVEL GOVERNMENT MEETING”
Leave a Reply
This will NEVER happen. You are living in a fantasy world!
It has to happen. The existing bathtubs are incapable of providing reliable service even in summer weather. If ships, rather than bathtub boats, are not used then the town center service will cease. That will have severe knock on effects for all of Cowal as many people (going in both directions) use the service for their jobs and the Western Service is not an adequate substitute (as recognised by the EU).
I rather dispair at the thought of CalMac running anything efficiently. We remember the streaker with its ticketing,- attatched to car registration – and the number of stafff required to get the car on the ferry – one ticket collector, one person directing you onto the Pier, another directing you down to the Linkspan and three crew to park or position your car!
I recently went to Millport by the Cumbrae Ferry. I was directed by a CalMac person to the ticket office where two persons sold me a ticket which I immediately had to hand over the staff member outside. I was parked on the ferry by another person in a set position and after 10 minutes he reappeared to direct the Van and three cars off at the otherside. The Millport residents said that immediately CalMac got a subsidy(?) under EEC rules, they doubled the number of staff! Now their union wants to strike to preserve jobs!
It does not bear thinking about.
The A83 debacle makes the provision of extra vehicle carrying on this crossing now imperative. This is the busiest crossing in Europe and deserves to be treated as such with two unrestricted competitive services.
Well done Alex Neil
I am so glad to hear this news. It is finally recognising the people of Cowal are not a bunch of dafties which is how certain participants of this meeting have treated us. It is heattwarming to see Mike Russell doing what he was elected to do. Thanks David.
It is splendid news that Mr Archie Robertson has , at last apologised to Captain Ferguson for the atrocious manner in which he was treated for acting in the interests of public safety.
Coupled with the way in which the Alicat safety issue has been handled, perhaps it is time for Mr Robertson to “Consider his position”.
It is beginning to seem as although some senior members of the Government are realising that the decision to degrade the Dunoon/Gourock route to Passenger-only was an economic, financial and social disaster imposed despite local opposition and expert findings in the Deloitte Touche Report. There is evidence that Alex Neil is amongst those who wish to rectify matters, and this to be welcomed. Others, particularly those in the Transport Department may well attempt to thwart efforts to re-introduce a vehicle service. It is vital that the people of Cowal maintain the pressure, and, in particular support the Dunoon-Gourock Ferry Action Group in its campaign. Victory is possible!
Can’t see a vehicle ferry service returning to Dunoon linkspan. Too complicated to have this happen. Time will tell!
So what do you see? The current situation cannot continue and complete loss of the town center servcie, which seems to be the alternative, would be a disaster. Don’t be so negative, fight for the town.
Yes, passengers need a reliable service to the rail station, but given the more than adequate passenger and vehicle services Dunoon has compared to anywhere else, I can’t see the government spending £millions that they don’t have or really need to. I suspect they must have come to some agreement with Western Ferries who ordered two new-build ferries, almost immediately after the Dunoon vehicle ferries were withdrawn. Western must have had a spec for the ships ready to go when the new Argyll Ferries started. The whole saga smacks of having been pre-arranged among several parties. The whole problem stems from politicians making promises before they knew the full facts!
Send the Ali Cat to Cameroon, and bring the Pioneer back from there. They have better ferry than we have, it’s almost laughable!
Interesting news. So where is this robust vehicle ferry, given that none could be found before? If one is found, is this going to increase the subsidy to Argyll Ferries? All seems a bit dubious.
The competence – or otherwise – of CalMac has continually clouded this issue.
This has nothing to do with the case for properly managed competitive unrestricted vehicle carrying ferry services on these crossings.
Many people feel that overmanning on Calmac and in their offices is endemic but as Calamac is owned by the Scottish Government its incompetemce has to be laid at the door of the Transport Department who have appointed people to run Calmac who have no knowledge of ferry operations and who have had a political agenda to fulfil on this crossing (ie kill it off).
My comment above sounds ambiguous.
The point I was making was that the competence or otherwise of CalMac dose not effect the cast iron case for proper ferry service
If Argyll Ferries ran an unresticted vehicle ferry they would need no subsidy.
That is the whole point.
I don’t know why they are bothering with a car service, it’s not like anyone used it, everybody who knew the area used the Western Ferries being cheaper & more frequent, tourists were the only users of the CalMac service, then even the tourists switched as soon as the hotel told them about the Western Ferries service. Switching to a passenger service was a good idea, however, it is the way that this good idea has been implemented on the Dunoon – Gourock crossing is where the problem lies.
I am not opposed to a car service, however an easy way is to have a Winter only service using the MV Coruisk, which has Ro-Ro capability, and is free during the winter months. Another option is to build new ferries, identical to the MV Bute and MV Argyle, although perhaps smaller.
The easiest way to resolve the problem is a proper terminal. Built in Dunoon and fully reopened in Gourock.
This issue is not one that should be top on the list of politicians in the Scottish or European Governments, they have much more important stuff to attend to. The reality is that Dunoon is a small, unimportant town in the Central Belt of Scotland.
At the very least there should be one new larger ship employed on the route.
It was the timetable that was the killer for the CalMac service. For some reason the politicians did let it operate an unrestricted timetable while the streakers were still running. If they had then we would have really seen which was the most popular route, my money would be on the town centre route not Hunter’s quay.
To hand all the vehicle business wholly to a private concern WAS the scandal. People want a ship and not a boat and the Saturn could easily be reactivated and pressed into service in the meantime , as she is sitting spare up in Rosneath , unless she has secretly been de-equipped? A search for a more modern ship must be the priotity even if they bought second hand. The design must meet the requirements of both Linkspans at either side of the Firth. The draught of any ship must also be deeper and able to take more than a ripple in winter crossings. Mr Russell blamed European legislation for the inept move in June 2011 and didn’t listen to either the people of Dunoon or Gourock or the professional mariners.