Open Letter to Transport Scotland on the Benefits of Shortest Route Services

Dear Mr Laidlaw,

I write relating to the current difficulties being encountered for providing back-up provision for the Stornoway/Ullapool ferry service due to the delay in renewing the much needed link-span at Ullapool.

Calmac maintain the Uig pier is not deep enough for the Isle of Lewis to use it at all states of the tide, so would it be more effective to use the Isle of Lewis on the Oban/Craignure service and release the Isle of Mull for Stornoway/Uig provision?  Alternatively and arguably significantly better, the Isle of Mull be used as a second vessel on the Uig triangle, providing considerable additional much needed capacity and capability to all the islands from Lewis to Eriskay and to a lesser extent benefit Barra and Vatersay as an emergency back-up route, to the significant advantage of the entire Hebrides.

A second vessel operating in summer on the Uig triangle would allow day trips for passengers Monday to Saturday from Uig to both Lochmaddy and Tarbert, this should prove very attractive and popular with the large number of tourists that visit and are based in Skye. It should lead to additional revenue for the ferry company as well as for the economy of Uist and Harris.  It would also act as back-up for the blighted Mallaig/Lochboisdale service until such time as harbour improvements at Mallaig can be considered.

While it would be better to have a dedicated ferry for both Lochmaddy and Tarbert, initially it might be preferable for the "Hebrides" to operate the core timetable as at present with the "Isle of Mull" providing the additional services where obviously needed and desired.

The MV Isle of Lewis would be able to provide an enhanced service for the Craigenure/Oban route by virtue of its capacity. Were the mezzanine decks needed to be used for even more capacity the speed capability of the "Isle of Lewis" should easily offset any delay.  The vessel's off-set ramp is an obvious hindrance but could this not also be overcome by bow loading in the short-term?

I would be most grateful if you could detail what practical issues exist which would prevent the MV Isle of Lewis being capable of serving on the Oban/Craignure route?

It may be worth recalling that several years back the Stornoway linkspan was closed for repair for several weeks, the draft of the then "Suilven", like the Isle of Lewis was too deep for Uig pier at all stages of the tide.  The Suilven was switched to the Mull service where she was able to operate at all states of the tide with the Isle of Mull providing service between Stornoway and Uig.  The passage time was 15 minutes shorter than from Ullapool and records indicate that it was well received, as was also the case with Mull passengers.  Since then of course, the highway between Stornoway and Tarbert has been appropriately upgraded.

Yours sincerely Donald Manford.