Caledonian MacBrayne Fleet

The Caledonian MacBrayne fleet is the largest fleet of car and passenger ferries in the United Kingdom, with 34 ferries in operation, 2 on charter and another 6 on order. The company provides lifeline services to 23 islands off the west coast of Scotland, as well as operating routes in the Firth of Clyde.

Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) vessels can be readily identified by their black hulls and white superstructures. They have red funnels with black caps that display the Lion Rampant badge with masts in buff. The fleet can be categorised into various groups. Vessels are owned by the asset holding company Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited, which is in turn wholly owned by the Scottish Government.

Groups of vessels

Major units

There are presently ten vessels over in length in the CalMac fleet:

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These vessels usually operate on the longer crossings, with high passenger numbers.

, at in length the largest vessel in the fleet, operates on the Ullapool to Stornoway, Lewis crossing. has the highest passenger capacity and can carry 1000 people on the Ardrossan to Brodick, Arran crossing. crosses The Minch from Uig, Skye, while , and are based in Oban, serving Mull, Colonsay, Coll, Tiree and in the summer and for relief Barra. is based in Castlebay, serving Barra, sailing to Oban. is based in Lochboisdale, servingSouth Uist, sailing to Mallaig. and serve Islay and Colonsay from Kennacraig. During the summer, , replaced at Islay in 2011, supplements the Ardrossan - Brodick service and sails to Campbeltown. She is a spare vessel during the winter months.

Two new dual fuel ferries are being built by Ferguson Marine Engineering. The first, named is due to enter service at Ardrossan, and is now scheduled for delivery at the end of 2023. The second, Hull 802, is as yet unnamed and is expected to be delivered at the end of 2024. See also ferry fiasco for the political controversies surrounding the construction of these units.

Four other identical new vessels, ordered in two batches, from Cemre Marin Endustri, Turkey to be delivered between October 2024 and February 2025. The first two will be used on the Islay service, and will be named and MV ''Loch Indaal''.
The second two will be used on the Uig to Lochmaddy and Tarbert routes.

Clyde services

The Wemyss Bay to Rothesay route is operated by two vessels, built in Poland, (delivered in spring 2005) and , which entered service in 2007. There was much controversy following the decision to award the shipbuilding contracts to yards outside Scotland. The streakers' removal from Rothesay was delayed by pier work to install an end-loading linkspan, allowing full ro-ro operation.

The former Clyde ferries, , and had provided the Dunoon and Rothesay services for the best part of 35 years. They were nicknamed the "streakers", because of their speed and ability to manoeuvre rapidly both at sea and in port. ''Juno'' and ''Jupiter'' were withdrawn from service in 2010, and by June 2011 ''Juno'' had been broken up at Rosneath, meanwhile ''Jupiter'' was sold to breakers in Denmark for recycling in that month.

From 2002, the service to Dunoon was supplemented by passenger catamaran , owned by Solent and Wightline Cruises and chartered by CalMac from Red Funnel Line. last served Dunoon on 29 June 2011, and was then scheduled to operate the summer relief on the Arran crossing. From 30 June 2011, the Gourock - Dunoon service was awarded on a passenger-only basis to the newly formed David MacBrayne Ltd subsidiary Argyll Ferries. Argyll Ferries purchased and a former Irish boat renamed to serve the route. ''Argyll Flyer'' was not available for the start of the passenger-only service due to prop shaft problems. The company leased the cruise boat from Clyde Cruises to start the service, but she was out of service with engine problems for most of the first day.

Loch class

The Loch class are a group of smaller vessels with a single car deck, running the length of the ship, with a ramp at each end. They vary in length from . Most are symmetrical when viewed from the side, with no operational bow or stern. Passenger accommodation is down one or both sides of the ship. , and also have a lounge above the car deck. They operate on shorter crossings, usually between 5 and 30 minutes, although , , and take 40, 60 and 55 minutes on their respective routes, Sound of Barra between Ardmhor and Eriskay, Sound of Harris between Berneray and Leverburgh, and Oban and Lismore.

The original four Loch class vessels were based on . At in length, they can carry 12 cars and 200 passengers. The largest and newest, , is and can carry 32 cars and 250 passengers. She was built for and has run on the Largs to Cumbrae route since 2007. A mere shorter, and were built for the Skye crossing. They were made redundant by the opening of the Skye Bridge and eventually found redeployment elsewhere after some time laid up.

Of similar design, but larger than the Loch class, was launched in 2012 for the Raasay service. She is powered by a hybrid combination of batteries and a small diesel engine - a world first for a sea-going RO-RO vessel. A second hybrid ferry, , was launched in May 2013 for the Tarbert to Portavadie route. The third hybrid ferry, , was launched on 11 December 2015 and entered service on the Claonaig to Lochranza route in September 2016.

CMAL are currently undergoing a design and tender process for new electric battery powered Loch Class ferries. The first phase is expected to consist of 7 vessels being delivered between 2025 and 2028. They will be 49.9m long and have the capacity for 24/25 cars and 150 passengers or 15/16 cars and 250 passengers depending on the design and route they will be on. There will be another phase for the ferries that do longer journeys or have port or sea constraints these are Sound of Barra, Sound of Harris, Oban - Lismore and Mallaig - Armadale.

Passenger-only vessels

;MVs ''Argyll Flyer'' and ''Ali Cat''
(244 passengers) and the catamaran (250 passengers) are passenger-only ferries used on the Gourock - Dunoon service. The ferries, formerly operated by Argyll Ferries, were acquired when the company was incorporated into Caledonian MacBrayne in January 2019.

;MV ''Chieftain''
is a passenger-only vessel chartered fro
Clyde Marine Services
to operate the Gourock to Kilcreggan service since 1 June 2020. She has the capacity for 80 passengers.

Other vessels

There are five vessels in the fleet which cannot be listed in the above categories.

;MV ''Carvoria''
is a vessel used on the Kerrera service. She was built in 2017 by Malakoff Limited in Shetland. She is a bow loading vessel of similar design to the old Island Class vessels and can take twelve passengers and one car, although due to vehicle restrictions on Kerrera she rarely carries cars. She is the smallest vessel in the fleet.
;MV ''Coruisk''
is a "sheltered water vessel", operating on the Mallaig to Armadale route in summer, and relieving on the Clyde in winter. Her design allows her to make the crossing in reverse when sea conditions allow.
;MV ''Lochnevis''
is a highly specialised ship serving the Small Isles of Eigg, Canna, Rùm and Muck from Mallaig. She is long, and has capacity for 190 passengers. Her vehicle deck can accommodate up to 14 cars, but is empty on most sailings due to the lack of roads and vehicle restrictions on the Small Isles. She is instead used mostly for goods and vital equipment for the islands. ''Lochnevis'' has a surprisingly large vehicle ramp, which dominates her appearance. This allows her to berth a considerable distance from slipways, protecting her exposed Azipod propulsion systems in shallow waters.
;MV ''Loch Frisa''
is a former Norled ferry bought by Caledonian MacBrayne in 2021. She was built in 2015 as ''Utne'' and operated for Norled for 6 years. She is a double-ender ferry with passenger capacity for 195, and capacity for 40 cars, or 4 HGVs. She measures long by metres wide. Following a naming competition, CMAL announced renaming as MV ''Loch Frisa''.
;MV ''Alfred''
is a 84.5 m (277 ft) catamaran ferry chartered from Pentland Ferries to operate the Ardrossan - Brodick route. She can carry 98 cars and 430 passengers.

Current fleet

Future fleet

Former fleet

References

External links

Calmac.co.uk: Official Caledonian MacBrayne websiteShipsofcalmac.uk: Unofficial list of the past and current Caledonian MacBrayne fleet

{{Caledonian MacBrayne ships

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Ferries of Scotland
Lists of ferries
Scotland transport-related lists