MV Alfred hire dubbed a ‘sticking plaster’ solution for West Coast ferry woes
Transport Scotland’s chartering of Pentland Ferries vessel, mv Alfred, has been deemed a “sticking plaster solution” that taxpayers will be left to pay for by one MSP.
While welcoming the news that the ship will be available to support Caledonian MacBrayne’s (CalMac) beleaguered ferry network from April 18, Jamie Halcro Johnston remains critical of the Scottish Government’s approach, which will cost £9million. Pentland Ferries has announced that during Alfred’s nine month absence, mv Pentalina will be sailing the Pentland Firth route.
The Highland and Islands MSP said it was welcome that Pentalina won’t be tied up while other island communities “count the cost of unreliable or cancelled CalMac services.”
Mr Halcro-Johnston described Scotland’s ferry network as being “beyond breaking point” and he said it is “a shame it has taken so long for a deal to be agreed.”
“However, we should expect no self-congratulatory backslapping from SNP ministers,” said the MSP. ” They are only undoing part of a mess of their own making, and this certainly doesn’t solve the many problems facing the west coast network in particular.
“This deal only highlights the SNP’s total mismanagement of our ferries network and new vessel procurement. Taxpayers are left paying £1m a month for nine months to hire the mv Alfred, a boat which only cost £17m to build. This is an expensive fix for years of SNP ferry underinvestment.
“It also means that the mv Pentalina – an older boat with reduced capacity – will be left operating the Pentland Firth route to Orkney over the busy summer period, putting pressure on that service at peak times.
“As ever with this SNP/Green Government, a sticking plaster solution has been found and taxpayers will be left to pay for it”.