A leader of a Western Isles business group has written a letter demanding Cmal is “disbanded immediately” following its ferry procurement failures.
Chairman of the Harris Development Trust, Kenny MacLeod, has written to new First Minister Humza Yousaf and Transport Minister Kevin Stewart asking for them to take action.
The influential business group has long campaigned for the rights of islanders in the face of ferry failures.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) is wholly owned by the Scottish Government and the company owns the vessels, ports, harbours as well as buys the ferries.
It works closely with the publicly owned company that operates the ferries – CalMac.
But after a series of well-publicised procurement failures, islanders have raised the prospect of scrapping the procurement body with the new leader of the Scottish Government.
Cmal should be ‘disbanded and merged with CalMac’
Mr MacLeod wrote: “Cmal are failing miserably in the one reason for their existence.
“CalMac can only work with what they are given.
“Cmal need to be disbanded immediately and moved back to where they should always have been – a department within CalMac – so that responsibility for providing and maintaining the vessels is with the one organisation.”
In order to comply with EU state aid rules, in 2006 the Scottish Government split Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd into two separate companies – Cmal and CalMac.
Mr MacLeod, who runs an island boat touring company on the Isle of Harris, has been a dedicated campaigner on the impact the lack of ferries has on its tourism industry.
The Harris Development Trust calculated the island’s economy lost £8.5 million last summer due to not having enough ferry capacity for tourists.
Cmal a ‘contrived creation’
Mr MacLeod wrote: “Cmal is a contrived creation. There is no legal, practical or financial reason for their continued existence.
“It is clear that CalMac have not been provided with the correct number and type of vessel to enable the continuous service that is required under the contract they have with Transport Scotland.”
Meanwhile, Mr MacLeod claims islanders have been struggling to get to hospital appointments, attend funerals, visit family, and businesses are “barely able to keep going”.
Last summer, business owners on the Isle of Harris told The Press and Journal often tourists “wished they had never come” and “won’t come back” due to the constant ferry disruption.
Due to ferries having to go for their yearly service, and with no reserve vessels, CalMac has already announced several islands will be experiencing reduced services this year.
What does the Scottish Government say?
Kevin Stewart, who became Transport Minister in Humza Yousaf’s cabinet on March 29, said: “I am acutely aware of the impact any ferry disruption has on island communities and I have already met some stakeholder groups with regards to recent issues.
“As part of the tripartite approach, Cmal and Calmac have a vitally important role to play in relation to investment decisions relating to ports and harbours.
“The role of the parties involved in the delivery of ferry services has been evaluated very recently through Project Neptune.
“Transport Scotland has begun consultation with communities on the governance structure within the tripartite – and we have been very clear that improvements to service delivery must stem from islander input.
“The Scottish Government has invested more than £2 billion in our ferry services since 2007 and we have outlined plans to invest around £700 million in a five year plan to improve ferry infrastructure.”
“Since May 2021, we have bought and deployed an additional vessel in MV Loch Frisa in June, chartered the MV Arrow, made significant progress in the construction of vessels 801 and 802, commissioned two new vessels for Islay, progressed investment in essential harbour infrastructure, and now we are delivering a further two new Islay-class vessels.”
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