CalMac needs a new ferry every 18 months to maintain reliability - chief executive Duncan Mackison
Only one quarter of the ageing west coast fleet will be replaced when the current orders are completed in three years’ time
There must be no let up in ordering further new CalMac ferries beyond the 11 being built if services are to become more reliable, its chief executive has warned MPs.
Duncan Mackison said: “We need a new vessel every year to 18 months to maintain reliability.
“For the next few years, there’s a lot of catch up. If we can maintain that reinvestment, things should stabilise.”
He underlined the need to “seeing beyond the shopping list” of new vessels and said a long-term financial commitment was “really important” to the west coast operator.
Mr Mackison told the House of Commons’ Scottish affairs committee that 13 of the 37 ferries in the CalMac fleet would be replaced by 2029 when the last of the new vessels on order are due to be delivered.
They comprise the hugely-late Glen Rosa, which is due by the end of the year, seven-and-a-half years late from the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow, along with three other large ferries from Turkey between July and February, which are more than a year late, and seven smaller electric ferries from Poland, that are due to start arriving by March.
They follow Glen Sannox, Glen Rosa’s sister vessel, entering service in January last year, six-and-a-half years late, and Isle of Islay, the first of the Turkish ferries, joining the fleet in March, more than a year late.
The boss of Britain’s largest ferry company said the delays were “having a material impact on the conditions in which we operate because we are keeping older vessels for longer.”
He said: “The priority with new vessels is being able to get them on time because we need them into the fleet in a timely fashion.”
Ministers are due to place an order for a replacement of the Lord of the Isles ferry this year, while two smaller electric ferries may be directly-awarded to Scottish Government-owned Ferguson Marine.
His warning comes two months after ten CalMac ferries were out of action at the same time because of breakdowns or scheduled maintenance, causing widespread disruption.
Mr Mackison said technical problems with the Scottish Government-owned operator’s ferries had “increased dramatically in recent years” to some 50 per cent of cancellations, which he wanted to halve.
He said: “It should be significantly less...it should probably be down at about 20-25 per cent.”
Mr Mackison most other cancellations were due to weather and the sea state, with the overall total accounting for about 9 per cent of sailings.
He said: “In less than a year, we will have another four large ferries in the network. That should start to make a difference and reduce disruption and reliability-related issues.”
But the chief executive warned: “To maintain that trend, we need to keep that drumbeat of new vessels coming into the fleet.”
Mr Mackison said that to continue reducing the average age of the fleet “we need to see beyond the shopping list of new ferries which are making their way towards us.
“It is really important for us to have a long-term financial commitment which goes beyond the lifetime of a [Scottish] Parliament, and obviously that’s difficult from a budget perspective.”
The Ferries Community Board, which represents passengers’ views to CalMac, said it must examine why new vessels were suffering faults and others experiencing problems following annual overhauls.
Its new chair Mary MacInnes said: “The board supports a plan for continuous delivery of vessels which are suitable to provide a resilient service across the network.
“It has suggested a cross-party agreement that supports the Cmal [Scottish Government ferry and port owning firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited] plan for vessels and infrastructure and helps move away from the political cycle for funding approvals.
“Provision of new vessels will help but CalMac must urgently review the recurring examples of new vessels being removed from service to resolve teething issues and the lack of reliability for vessels returning from annual service programmes.
“Customers need to have confidence that the Calmac maintenance plans can be delivered with improved resilience if island economies are to flourish.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The arrival of 13 new vessels to the fleet, which started with Glen Sannox in January 2025 and was followed by Isle of Islay in March 2026, will improve the resilience of ferry services, and these modern vessels are also expected to operate in more challenging weather and sea conditions.
“The procurement for Lord of the Isles’ replacement is also underway. In total, this means that this Government has invested to renew over a third of CalMac’s entire fleet.”
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