Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Skye to Uist CalMac ferry cancelled due to firefighting system fault

Services between Uig and Lochmaddy have been cancelled this afternoon due to a fault onboard MV Hebrides.
Services between Uig and Lochmaddy have been cancelled this afternoon due to a fault onboard MV Hebrides.

Ferry services between Uig and Lochmaddy have been cancelled due to a fault onboard a CalMac ferry.

Emergency repairs are being carried out onboard MV Hebrides this afternoon after a fault developed with the vessel’s CO2 firefighting system.

The fault is the latest issue to affect the lifeline crossing.

On Thursday, MV Hebrides was evacuated amidst a bomb scare. 

A package was discovered onboard the 325ft vessel between Uig and Tarbert.

Services between Skye and the Western Isles have now been cancelled, with crossings between Uig and Tarbert also being impacted by the disruption.

CalMac pulled all services from the schedule as emergency services raced to the scene.

The operation was later called off after it was deemed a false alarm.

Latest cancellation onboard MV Hebrides

Services between Skye and the Western Isles have now been cancelled for the remainder of the day.

Its the second time in less than a week that the transport operator has been forced to cancel crossings onboard MV Hebrides.

Sailings between Uig and Tarbert have also been called off due to the disruption.

The announcement was made today in a post on the firm’s Twitter page.  

Alternative options are now being explored by CalMac bosses to help alleviate further disruption to the crossing.

Officials are currently formalising contingency plans for services, scheduled for departure on Wednesday.

Further details surrounding the timescale are expected to be released in due course.

 

Finlay MacRae, head of operations at CalMac, said: “MV Hebrides has a technical issue with her CO2 firefighting system and we are sorry to announce that sailings up until this evening have had to be cancelled as a result of this.

“Contractors are due to arrive at Uig this afternoon to carry out the necessary repairs, and we`ll update as soon as we have the specialist view.

“All affected passengers are being contacted and advised to travel via Lochboisdale or Ullapool, although space is limited as we are at a peak demand period of the summer.

“This situation is difficult and inconvenient for our customers and we apologise to everyone affected and will do our best to find alternative options where these exist.”

Today’s repairs are the latest to be carried out on the CalMac vessel.

Repairs were carried out on MV Hebrides in May after it sustained damage whilst attempting to berth in Lochmaddy Pier during high tide.

In May, the 325ft vessel was temporarily pulled from service after it crashed into Lochmaddy pier.  

The vessel, which serves Skye, Harris and Uist, was damaged after it collided with the pier during high tide.

The vessel remained out of action for several days as repairs were carried out in Greenock.

Conversation