CalMac has published its annual overhaul schedule which will see all 35 vessels spending a total of 668 days in dry dock for planned maintenance over the coming months.
This year’s programme has increased from 647 days last year to ensure all required work can be carried out and to reduce the chance of in-service breakdowns.
Several vessels will require an extended annual maintenance period which will include maintenance and survey work.
On the Ardrossan to Brodick route, the MV Caledonian Isles is scheduled to go for its annual maintenance from January 3 to January 24 2024 when the service will be picked up by MV Isle of Arran and MV Hebridean Isles.
Last year, MV Caledonian Isles went for its annual overall and ended up spending three months in dry dock in Greenock owing to additional work which needed to be carried out on the vessel. This left Arran with a lengthy period of having to rely on MV Isle of Arran which is more susceptible to weather-related cancellations and has a greatly reduced capacity.
Pauline Blackshaw, director of strategy and change, said: “The annual overhaul programme ensures our vessels are as resilient as possible to cope with the challenging waters of the west coast. This winter, multiple vessels will be required to cover single routes, which will lead to challenges across the network.
“Occasionally, emergent work is discovered during annual maintenance, leading to a delay in the vessel returning to service. This occurred early in 2023 due to a combination of technical defects and the subsequent impact on the planned annual maintenance period schedule. We understand customers may be anxious about this happening again, in which case, we will stay in close contact with them to ensure they are kept up-to-date about developments.
“Please be assured we have planned the annual maintenance period with as much detail and consideration as possible, based on our knowledge of the vessels, and we are continuously monitoring the progress over each maintenance period closely.”
Further details about the maintenance programme can be found on the CalMac website at https://www.calmac.co.uk/annual-vessel-overhaul-plans-2023-2024
MV Caledonian Isles at Dales Marine dry dock in Greenock in January this year. No_B46caleyisles01_23_dry_dock