Caledonian MacBrayne bosses have insisted services will not suffer even if the company fails to increase ferry traffic to the required levels.
Managers at the firm told MSPs the lifeline Hebridean Islands ferry services would not be cut back, even if they fail to boost passenger numbers.
CalMac parent company David MacBrayne Limited fought off competition to retain management of the route.
But David MacBrayne Ltd Chief Executive Martin Dorchester and Group Finance Director Robbie Drummond told MSPs yesterday that their calculations for operating the route included increasing revenue by 10%.
The bosses said that this would be achieved by increasing passenger numbers, as well as improving sales of on-board retail and catering.
But Scottish Conservative MSP Peter Chapman raised concerns that services could be cut back if the operator fails to grow its business.
Mr Chapman also asked for guarantees that taxpayers would not be left to foot the bill if planned increases fail to materialise.
Finance Director Mr Drummond told MSPs at the Rural Economy and Connectivity committee yesterday: “We are confident of growing our revenue by 10%.
“The risk sits with us – it is a fixed price tender. If we don’t achieve that it is a risk we’re going to have to deal with and manage.”
He said that the company was actively engaging with other bodies – including tourist board Visit Scotland – in a bid to promote the ferry services.
The £1billion contract was awarded to government-owned CalMac last year. Fears had been raised that rival bidder, Serco Caledonian Ferries, would run-down services, leading to a tense tendering process.
Chief Executive Mr Dorchester added: “We have to cut our cloth.
“If we don’t hit our revenue targets we have to cut our cloth – there’s no get-out clause for us.”
CalMac’s contract bid for the routes made almost 350 commitments to improve the service, including investments in vessel and port improvements, increasing traffic, providing more opportunities for local employment and maintaining all existing routes and services as they are now.
It has also committed to retaining the CalMac pension scheme and a policy of no compulsory redundancies.