By Colin Smeeton
CalMac has revealed the most recent repair bill for the MV Hebridean Isles was around £2.5 million and that there were doubts about whether the 38-year-old ship would sail again.
The vessel, which has recently returned to service on the Islay route, was removed from service in January and underwent ten months of repairs which had a major knock-on effect on the CalMac network including the loss of the MV Isle of Arran on the Ardrossan to Brodick route. The summer service was eventually shored up by the arrival of the MV Alfred.
CalMac this week hailed the comeback of the MV Hebridean Isles, which it said at times looked increasingly unlikely, “showcased the firm’s tremendous effort and investment made to restore her seaworthiness and reintegrate her into the CalMac fleet”.
A CalMac spokesperson added: “The decision to proceed with the repairs and explore every option to return the vessel to service demonstrates CalMac’s commitment to exhaust every available option within its fleet.”
After six attempts were made to address issues with the controllable pitch propeller, the final option saw the tailshaft and pull push rod removed from the vessel and sent to a specialist machining company in Denmark.
This repair was successful with MV Hebridean Isles carrying its first passengers and freight for nearly ten months, supporting the Islay route, before heading to Stornoway on Saturday.
MV Hebridean Isles is still undergoing passenger and freight trials and is now due to be removed from service again for its annual maintenance which was delayed amid concerns about whether it would ever return to service.
Robbie Drummond, chief executive of CalMac, said: “Our commitment to serving island communities relies on the availability and reliability of our fleet and losing the large vessel MV Hebridean Isles from service by retiring her early would have had a significant impact on our capacity to serve communities with the ferry links they deserve.
“Our maintenance costs have soared in recent years and investment has never been higher as we await six major and 10 smaller vessels coming into service. Thanks to the large number of partners who have supported our work to bring MV Hebridean Isles, and the work of our world-leading maritime and engineering CalMac team, we are pleased to see this major vessel back on our network.”
MV Hebridean Isles will continue to serve the Stornoway freight route, however, if repairs on MV Alfred are successful it will return to Islay until it departs for its annual maintenance on Friday November 10.
MV Hebridean Isles has returned to service after being out of service for 10 months. No_B43HebIsles01_23_ferry