Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne said it carried more cars and passengers last year despite losing nearly 1,200 sailings due to bad weather in the last two months of the year.
The firm, which has caused concern among islanders after the Western Isles’ main ferry returned to dry dock for more repairs last month, said it carried nearly 84,000 more passengers – a 2% increase – and nearly 19,000 more cars in 2013 than the previous year.
CalMac published its annual carryings for January to December, 2013, which showed a total of 4,594,520 passengers and 1,064,324 cars travelled on its 27 routes, with 18 of those routes showing an increase in traffic.
Two routes were trialled for the first time in 2013 – the Ardrossan-Campbeltown summer service which began in May, and the Lochboisdale-Mallaig winter service, which began in November but has been badly affected by the extreme weather which prevailed for virtually all the first two months of the pilot.
CalMac operations director Brian Fulton said: “2013 was a year of very mixed fortunes with an incredibly busy and hot summer which boosted carryings especially on the Clyde, but which was followed, at the end of the year, by some of the worst winter conditions ever seen.
“These storms have had, and continue to have, a devastating effect on sailings right across the network from the Clyde to the Western Isles.
“In November and December around 1,200 sailings were cancelled due to the weather which is a good indication of how widespread the disruption has been.
“Anyone who has seen the TV footage of extreme weather battering coasts around the country will have a good sense of the type of conditions our masters have been facing and understand why this winter has been such a challenge.”
He added: “We recognise that these cancellations are hugely inconvenient for ferry travellers and the communities we serve, but we have to put the safety of our passengers, crews and ships first.”
The number of coaches carried across the isles was close to 2012 levels at 11,210 but overall commercial traffic fell by nearly 7,000 vehicles to 92,589.
Mr Fulton said: “Without detailed analysis it is difficult to be precise about the reasons for fluctuations in traffic, and trends do vary across the network, but our experience is that any drop in commercial traffic is likely to be related to the completion of major infrastructure projects, so is not an area of major concern although clearly we would prefer that the ships were as busy as possible.”