The cost of repairs to CalMac ferries has more than tripled in ten years as age takes its toll on Scotland’s ferry fleet.
Scottish Government-owned ferry operator CalMac spent more than £28.5million on repairs to their vessels in 2021, compared with just £9.5million in 2011.
The figures – obtained by the Scottish Conservatives via a Freedom of Information request – show that repair costs have soared since the SNP came to power, with total spending topping £200million since 2007.
The head of CalMac’s engineering division, Alex Cross, recently warned of the increasing risk of random breakdowns as a result of the fleet’s age.
Over a third of CalMac’s largest ships are beyond their 30-year expected operational life, while their oldest large ferry, the MV Isle of Arran, is 39 years old.
The 29-year-old MV Caledonian Isles, which is set to be replaced by one of the two overdue ferries being built by nationalised Ferguson Marine, has been removed from service 12 times since 2018 to a cost of almost £7million alone.
The Scottish Conservatives say this is another, previously unseen, cost of the SNP’s ferries fiasco.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Graham Simpson said: “The age and decline of Scotland’s ferry fleet is taking an ever heavier toll on island communities and the public purse.
“More than a third of CalMac’s ships are working beyond their design life, and the operator’s head engineer has admitted that breakdowns will become more frequent as time goes on.
“It is no wonder that the cost of repairs has soared.
“The SNP have utterly failed to deliver their promised ferry replacement programme, which has forced them to fork out a fortune of public money on ships which should rightly have been retired years ago.
“Meanwhile, two unfinished vessels in nationalised Ferguson shipyard are several years late and still months away from completion, having racked up costs of more than £250million so far.
“The SNP is letting down Scottish taxpayers and abandoning island residents who rely on these lifeline routes. They must urgently deliver the new ferries we desperately need or the breakdowns and delays will only get worse.”
Notes:
Please see table below for total repair costs by year since 2007:
|
CalMac Fleet - Total Repair Costs |
|
|
Financial Year (1 April - 31 March) |
Total (£) |
|
2007 |
7,880,000 |
|
2008 |
8,326,000 |
|
2009 |
8,499,000 |
|
2010 |
9,139,000 |
|
2011 |
9,503,000 |
|
2012 |
10,477,000 |
|
2013 |
12,224,000 |
|
2014 |
15,149,000 |
|
2015 |
17,337,000 |
|
2016 |
17,820,000 |
|
2017 |
20,751,000 |
|
2018 |
15,463,000 |
|
2019 |
18,595,000 |
|
2020 |
17,597,000 |
|
2021 |
28,579,000 |
|
Total |
217,339,000 |
(FOI from CalMac Ferries Ltd, 30 June 2022, available on request).
More than £28 million has been spent on repairs to CalMac’s fleet in 2021. According to an FOI from CalMac Ferries Ltd, £28,579,000 was spent on repairs to their fleet in 2021. This is an increase of more than £10million on the previous year, more than triple the sum recorded 10 years previously, and over three and half times that of 2007, (FOI available on request).
Since 2007, a total of £217,339,000 has been spent on repairs to the ferry fleet. These figures include the cost of overhaul and running repairs and exclude owner upgrades and resilience investment, (FOI available on request).
The average age of CalMac’s fleet is around 24 years old. The average age of the CalMac ferries is almost 24 years and many of the large boats are even older. Of the operator’s 10 largest ferries, four are more than 30 years old and the MV Isle of Arran is 39. (BBC, 13 May 2022, link).
The MV Caledonian Isles has been removed from service 21 times since 2018. The MV Caledonian Isles has been removed from service for repairs to the vessel a total of 21 times between 1 January 2018 and 24 May 2022. Most recently, the ferry was out of service for 11 days between 17 and 28 April 2022. The 29-year-old ferry operates on the Ardrossan to Brodick route, set to receive one of the two ferries currently being built at Ferguson Marine. (Caledonian MacBrayne, MV Caledonian Isles, Accessed 24 June 2022, link; FOI available on request).
Almost £7 million has been spent on repairing the MV Caledonian Isles over the period. The total costs associated with maintaining and repairing the MV Caledonian Isles, including overhaul and running repairs and excluding owner upgrades and resilience investment, from January 2018 to March 2022, is £6,678,000, (FOI available on request).
Last month, the head of CalMac’s engineering division, Alex Cross, warned that there was ‘always a risk of a random thing going wrong’, due to the of the fleet’s age. Alex Cross told Scotland on Sunday: “There’s always a risk of a random thing going wrong, just like with an older car.” Adding, “Some of them operate 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 350 days a year. With the pressure on the fleet and the amount of time the ferries are working, we do not have time to do deep maintenance. With up to 500 timetabled runs a day, the fact the fleet availability is 96 to 98 per cent is good. […] The ferry is beyond its design life so we get that sort of thing. Older vessels are more likely to fail. Anything could go, because there is only so much we can check every year [in annual maintenance], so we try to do over a five-year period.” (Scotland on Sunday, 26 June 2022, link).