An island ferry that served the Oban to Lismore route for much of its service has sailed for the final time after more than 40 years on the open water.
Caledonian MacBrayne’s MV Eigg is the last of the fleets ‘Island’ class ferries to retire from service after more than four decades, operating her main route from Oban to Lismore until 2013.
The 75ft long and 21ft wide vessel was first introduced in 1972 as part of the company’s eight strong ‘island’ class, with a capacity to carry 75 passengers and five cars.
Over the years, the vessel has found to be operating out of Largs, Lochranza, Tobermory, Iona, Raasay and Lochaline., as well as serving as the Kilchoan Tobermory ferry from 1996 to 1998 and was latterly relief vessel on a number of shorter routes.
Jonathan Davies, CalMac’s small vessel technical superintendent said this vessel brings about the end of an era. He said: ”The MV Eigg is the oldest vessel in our fleet and she is the last of the Island class which were an iconic CalMac vessel.
“It really is the end of era with her leaving the fleet. She has served the company for over 40 years and has been an unstinting servant to the people of Lismore in particular.”
Following the implementation of the ‘Island’ class, the company was able to open up a variety of routes to Arran and Mull, Gigha, Iona and Lismore and was able to increase the flexibility and standard of service to remote locations across the country.
CalMac operates a fleet of 33 vessels serving 27 island and remote mainland communities across the west coast. They are the UK’s largest ferry company last year carrying more than 5.2 million passengers and 1.4 million vehicles.
MV Eigg is the second vessel in the space of six weeks to retire from the fleet. Calmac announced in early March that the MV Raasay, servicing the Sconser to Raasay route since 1976, was also retiring from service.
The vessel is being handed back to owner Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) to be sold in due course.