Caledonian-Isles

The 'Caledonian Isles', serving on the route Ardrossan-Brodick, suffered a technical issue with the fuel pump which required a repair on dec 19. As a consequence, the following sailings had to be cancelled: Departure Brodick – 11:05 a.m., 1:55 p.m.; Departure Ardrossan – 12:30 p.m., 3:20 p.m.

Due to issues with the Ardrossan linkspan combined with adverse weather, the service of the 'Caledonian Isles', operating on the route to Brodick, and operational requirements as a result of storm damage, the ferry shifted its sailings to and from Troon as follows as of Dec 18: Departure Brodick – 09:00 a.m., 1:15 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Depart Troon – 11:30 a.m., 3:15 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The following shuttle buses were operating between Ardrossan and Troon: Departure Ardrossan to Troon - 10:00 a.m., 2:15 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Departure Troon to Ardrossan - 10:30 a.m., 2:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. The following shuttle buses were operating between Troon port and Troon station: Departure Troon Port to Troon station - 10:30 a.m., 2:45 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Departure Troon Station to Troon Port - 10:55 a.m., 2:55 p.m., 6:30 p.m.

The service of the 'Caledonian Isles' between Ardrossan and Brodick were at a heightened risk of disruption and cancellation due to weather conditions in conncection with technical problems aboard the ferry on Dec 9, with the vessel's port stabiliser currently removed from operation due to an ongoing issue. Limitations were in place regarding the weather and sea states, in which the vessel can safely operate.

The 'Caledonian Isles', serving on the route Ardrossan - Brodick, suffered an issue with the port side stabiliser on Nov 28. The stabiliser has been removed from operation. During periods of adverse weather, the service was thus at a heightened risk of disruption or cancellation at short notice as limitations were in place regarding the weather and sea states, in which the vessel can safely operate. A repair plan was being explored and a further update was to be provided during the week commencing on Dec 8.

The 'Caledonian Isles', serving on the route Ardrossan-Brodick, departed the Inchgreen Dry Dock in Greenock after completion of repairs on the afternoon of Nov 13 and arrived back in Ardrossan at approximately 4:00 p.m. It has since resumed its service.

With efforts to resolve the bow thruster issue of rhe ' Caledonian Isles' ongoing, the current deployment plan for Arran and Islay will remain in place until Nov 14 inclusive. This means that Arran will have a two-vessel service with the 'Isle of Arran' (Ardrossan-Brodick) and 'Alfred' (Troon-Brodick). Islay will have a single-vessel service with the 'Finlaggan'. Whilst there may be constraints on some individual sailings, there is capacity in place to meet projected demand on both routes. An update on the potential return of the ferry and deployment plans for Arran and Islay will be provided on Nov 13. The 'Caledonian Isles' is currently berthed at Ayr, where a dive will take place by Nov 12 to inspect the bow thruster. The likely cause of the issue was the debris that was previously identified and removed from the tunnel causing minor damage to one or more of the thruster blades. This dive was expected to allow to confirm if there was any further debris in way of the bow thruster or visible damage to any of the blades.

The ''Caledonian Isles', serving on the route Ardrossan-Brodick, suffered a technical issue with its bow thruster, that required further investigations, on Oct 29. As a consequence, the departure from Brodick at 1:55 p.m. was delayed. The scheduled departures from Brodick at 4:40 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. as well as the crossing from Ardrossan at 6:00 p.m. had to be cancelled. On Oct 30 the ferry was relocated to Inchgreen, therefore, the service has been cancelled for the remainder of the day. Regarding Oct 31, the following sailings have been cancelled: Departure Ardrossan 07:00 a.m. Departure Brodick 08:20 a.m. On Nov 2, the departures from Brodick at 11:05 a.m., 1:55 p.m. and 4:40 p.m. as well as the sailings from Ardrossan at 12:30 p.m., 3:20 p.m and 6;00 p.m. were camncelled. A shuttle bus operated on the route Ardrossan - Troon with the following schedule: Ardrossan - Troon - 12:45 p.m. Troon - Ardrossan - 5:15 p.m. Ardrossan - Troon - 5:30 p.m. Sailings of the 'Caledonian Isles' were cancelled on Nov 5. The ferry was repositioned to Ayr for further investigations and repairs. An update was to be provided on these repairs for the week commencing on Nov 10. The ferries 'Alfred' and 'Glen Sannox' were meanwhilhe operating an amended timetable on the route Troon-Brodick; Glen Sannox Departure Brodick - 07:00 a.m.; Arrival Troon - 08:15 a.m.; Departure Troon - 09:30 a.m.; Arrival Brodick - 10:45 a.m.; Departure Brodick - 12:10 p.m.; Arrival Troon - 1:25 p.m.; Departure Troon - 3:10 p.m.; Arrival Brodick - 4:25 p.m.; Departure Brodick - 5:20 p.m.; Arrival Troon - 1635 p.m.; Alfred Departure Brodick - 10:30 a.m.; Arrival Troon - 11:50 a.m.; Departure Troon - 12:45 p.m.; Arrival Brodick - 2:05 p.m.; Departure Brodick - 2:45 p.m.; Arrival Troon - 4:05 p.m.; Departure Troon - 5:00 p.m.; Arrival Brodick - 6:20 p.m.; Departure Brodick - 6:50 p.m.; Arrival Troon - 8:10 p.m. A shuttle bus was operating between Ardrossan and Troon via Troon train station: Timetable: https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/service-status/#/service-status/003?route=05

On Nov 2, divers were sent down in the port of Adrdrossan to attendance the the source of the bow thruster issue of the 'Caledonian Isles', but no solution has been found. As a result of the ongoing issue and an adverse weather forecast, all sailings on the route have been cancelled on Nov 3. A further update on investigations and repair plans was to be provided on the afternoon of Nov 3. Impacted traffic were contacted by the operator CalMac directly. A shuttle bus was operating from Troon to Ardrossan at 11:30 a.m. with a return from Ardrossan to Troon at 12:20 p.m. Also the port stabiliser has been removed from operation due to a technical issue. The 'Caledonian Isles' remained sidelined in Adrossan for the time being.

As the investigations into the technical issue of the starboard side engine of the 'Caledonian Isles' were ongoing at the ferry's berth in Ardrossan on Oct 22, more scheduled sailings had to be cancelled. Affected were the departure from Ardrossan at 07:00 a.m. and from Brodick at 08:20 a.m. After the technical issue was resolved, the service was resumed with the 09:45 a.m. sailing departing from Ardrossan.

Due to a technical issue with the stern ramp of the 'Caledonian Isles', serving on the route Adrossan-Brodick, on Oct 20, the vessel was operating single ended. Vehicles may be required to reverse on and capacity will be restricted. Contractors were being arranged to carry out a repair and a further update on repairs were to be provided on the afternoon.. Any customers impacted by the disruption were contacted by Calmac directly. To allow repairs to be carried out on the stern ramp, on Oct 21 the following sailings were cancelled: Departure Brodick - 11:05 a.m. Departure Ardrossan - 12:30 p.m. Service was expected to resume with the 1:55 sp.m. departure from Brodick. However, after an issue with the starboard main engine occurred, which required further investigation, the sailings from Brodick at 1:55 p.m. and from Ardrossan at 3:20 p.m. were cancelled. In addition, the ferry’s port side stabiliser has been removed from operation due to a technical issue. Limitations were in place regarding the weather and sea states, in which the vessel can safely operate. CalMac was investigating options for a repair. During periods of adverse weather, the service was at heightened risk of disruption or cancellation at short notice.

Services have been cancelled between Ardrossan and Brodick as a result of another technical issue with the 'Caledonian Isles' on OCt 21. The problem, within the vessel's starboard main engine, required further investigations. As a conseuqence, the 4.40 p.m. service from the island to the mainland and the departure from Ardrossan to Brodick at 6 p.m. and the sailing from Brodick at 7.20 p.m. were cancelled as well as the departures from Ardrossan on OCt 22 at 07:00 a.m. 09:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and the departures from Brodick at 08:20, a.m.,11:05 a.m. and 1:55 p.m. Due to the technical issue, two buses depared from Ardrossan to Troon at 5:45 p.m. Two buses also returned from Troon to Ardrossan. A bus will also meet the 9:40 p.m. arrival at Troon, to return passengers to Ardrossan. In addition to the normally arranged buses operating within the port and from the train station, the following buses were to operate on Oct 22: Ardrossan - Troon 06:45 a.m.; 12:20 p,.m. and 5:30 p.m. and Troon - Ardrossan at 11:20 a.m.; 4:55 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. The setback came less than a month after the ferry returned to service following more than 1,5 years out of action.

The 'Caledonian Isles', will be serving the route Ardrossan-Brodick again on Oct 1 following successful sea trials and completion of repairs. The ship had left Troon en route to Ardrossan on Sep 30. It was due to operate the following sailings: Departure Ardrossan 5:00 p.m.; Arrival Brodick 5:55 p.m.; Departure Brodick 6:20 p.m.; Arrival Ardrossan 7:15 p.m. These sailings were not bookable and operate a turn up and go service. Tickets will be available for purchase at the port of departure. Theck-in closes 30 minutes prior to sailing for vehicles and 10 minutes for foot passengers. There will be limited catering onboard,

The 'Caledonian Isles', after having been out of service since January 2024, returned to North Ayrshire on the morning of Sep 24 and could be back in full service on the Ardrossan to Brodick route within days. The ferry was set for further sea trials, after leaving dry dock in Leith. The trials tested issues including propeller pitch response instability, essential for manoeuvring in harbours. After initial trials have gone to plan, the vessel transited to the west coast for further berthing and sea trials. Crew familiarisation was to take place at Ardrossan and Brodick and, all being well, a return to timetabled service would then begin. The repair bill for the Caley Isles so far is believed to have reached £12 million. CalMac is attempting to recover some of the costs from the Cammell Laird Shipyard on Merseyside, which carried out the initial work.

On Sep 17, the 'Caledonian Isles' exited drydock in Leith. The vessel will now undertake a programme of checks and familiarisation that will begin with a few days of trials on the Forth. In June, during sea trials, an issue with instability in pitch response affecting both controllable pitch propellers (CPP) wasidentified. Specifically, there was an inconsistent deadband between the pitch input requests and response fom the CPP’s. Since late July, work has taken place to address the issue and the ferry was now ready to test whether these works have been successful. The schedule was as follows: - Sep 17: vessel undocks and second set of alignment checks - Sep 18: harbour trials to assess pitch response - Sep 19 : sea trials on the Forth with Class in attendance Assuming all these works go to plan, the vessel will transit back to the west coast to allow the crew to undertake familiarisation trials at both Ardrossan and Brodick ports. These are necessary due to the length of time since the vessel operated in service on the route. Should the trials and crew familiarisation go to plan, timelines will be firmed up in due course

Due to ongoing investigations with the 'Caledonian Isles', operating on the route Ardrossan-Brodick in the Imperial Drydock of the Dales Marine Systems in Edinburgh, there is no scheduled service to Arran operating between the port until Sep 7. The ferries 'Glen Sannox' and 'Alfred' will operate the Troon Brodick-route until Sep 7 insted.

The 'Caledonian Isles' has left the James Watt Dock of the Dales Marine in Greenock on the evening July 25, as the ferry operator tries to find a solution to technical problems that have kept the ship out of service for more than a year and a half. The ferry was bound for dry dock in Leith, for repairs which could take between eight weeks and four months. Thge mechanisms that control the pitch of the propellers will have to be removed for further investigation. If that doesn't work, the retrofitting of a new system to improve the accuracy of the pitch control will be tried. This would take four more months. The 'Caledonian Isles' went out of service for its annual overhaul in January 2024. A hull deformity was discovered after repairs at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside, which has had a knock-on effect on the ferry’s return to service and prompted CalMac to seek to recover some of the almost £11 million in costs from the Birkenhead yard. CalMac intended to publish winter timetables soon and aim to give communities and customers certainty about service levels and vessel deployment during that period.

CalMac said on July 22 that the 'Caledonian Isles' would return to dry dock for further repairs which would likely take between eight weeks and four months, prompting a re-think of the winter timetable. Based on the current prognosis, the 'Caledonian Isles' could return in September in a best-case scenario or November in a worst-case scenario. CalMac intendex to publish winter timetables soon and aim to give communities and customers certainty about service levels and vessel deployment during that period.

CalMac is trying to recover millions of pounds of repair costs for the 'Caledonian Isles', which has been sidelined from the Arran route since Jan 2024, The costs has already risen to nearly £11m. The ferry operator is now seeking compensation from the Cammell Laird Yard over problems discovered when the ship returned to Scotland in September, after the Merseyside firm carried out the first phase of work. The claim relates to deformation of the ship's hull, which has required months of remedial work. Cammell Laird has declined to comment. Action was under way to recover some of those repair costs following an investigation into the cause of the hull deformity. The problems began in January 2024 when annual maintenance inspections in Scotland revealed extensive steel corrosion. The ship was moved to the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead for a highly complex repair operation which required removal of the ship's engines. The work, said at the time to cost around £5m, was completed last September but when the ship sailed back to Scotland the crew noticed a gearbox problem and metal shards were discovered in a filter. Further investigation revealed that eight frames were deformed and that more steel replacement was required. CalMac engaged a naval architect to report on the root cause of the deformation, while more repairs were carried out in Greenock, by a different ship repair firm. The ferry was due to resume sailing from Ardrossan in June, but a new fault affecting its variable pitch propellers, essential for manoeuvring in harbour, was identified during sea trials, and the ship remained out of service.

After the 'Caledonian Isles' ran into problems during sea trials which unearthed issues with the ship's gearbox, engineers have been working around the clock to get to the root of the problem, with the ferry berthing at Fairlie Quay while further trials were undertaken. The ferry had spent eight months in Greenock undergoing repairs over the winter after returning to the Clyde in September following work at the Cammell Laird shipyard on Merseyside. Engineers have now teamed up with the original manufacturers of equipment on the ship to resolve the 'pitch control issue. The works were said to be progressing as a priority, however, the operator CalMac feared that the ship may require to return to dry dock in order for such repairs to be carried out ahead of a return to service.

The 'Caledonian Isles' will not return to service by July 7, the date when the 'Alfred' comes off-service for essential maintenance until July 21. Last week, deployment plans were shared for the whole network based on having thf 'Caledonian Isles' and on the basis of not having her. Now CalMac will be implementing the deployment plan which accounts for not having the vessel in service. This plan covers the two-week period July 7-21, when the 'Alfred' is off service, taking into account the 'Lord of the Isles' being off service for between July 9-11 for cylinder head works on her main engines. These works are essential to reducing the risk of a serious failure in the engines which would take the vessel out of service for much longer than three days and cause further disruption. Potential deployment from July 22 onwards will be shared at a later date and are subject to further developments with the 'Caledonian Isles'.

The 'Caledonian Isles' has returned to the drydock in Ardrossan on June 20 for further investigations into the ongoing issue with the pressure levels in the propulsion system.. Following attendance by divers and discussions with the manufacturer, the vessel was to be moved to drydock in the next stage of efforts to resolve the issue. Calmac wss initally unable to confirm a return to service date until the vessel has been docked and inspected. The ferry started sea trials on June 26 with external contractors of Kongsberg, the manufacturer, continuing to provide support as trials progressrf with the issue in the propeller hub resolved. The work on the issue with the offset in the pitch response and engine loads for both the port side and starboard side engines were continued. From that inspection, there are a range of scenarios and outcomes which could see a fix take anything from a few days to significantly longer. To give certainty to communities and customers, CalMac was working at speed to review deployment plans for the next few weeks and will publish any amendments to timetables early next week. We see three phases of deployment plans, detailed below. Until July 6, the 'Alfred' and 'Glen Sannox' will continue to operate Arran’s service with no other changes. Arran will have a single-vessel service with the 'Glen Sannox' for one day next week to June 25, due to the 'Alfred' requiring an essential day off-service for mandatory MES training. Furthermore, the 'Alfred' requires essential maintenance, which has already been delayed once to support network requirements, between July 7 and 21. The 'Lord of the Isles' is due to be off-service for three days between July 9 and 11 for cylinder head works in Oban too. Therefore, deployment plans to cover all routes for this period are being developed and more information will follow on these next week. From July 22 until Sep 18, when the 'Isle of Arran' goes to annual overhaul, CalMac will again develop a plan for this period once they have more information available.