The communities of Barra and South Uist, some 100 miles south of Stornoway, are linked to the Scottish mainland by ferry to Oban. This is a 5 to 6 hour journey. Calls have long been made by the islanders for a link to Mallaig, 3 hours by ferry. The Scottish Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson, rejected those calls some weeks ago, saying it would cost £25m, the cost of a new vessel.
Caledonian MacBrayne announced this week that one of the options for shifting the port from Oban to Mallaig would cost only £600,000 per annum, and would only involve the redeployment of an existing ferry, the MV Lord of the Isles. Questions are now being asked why Mr Stevenson swept this under the carpet, and why our local parliamentary representatives didn't speak up about this. In principle, the new link could be up and running as early as next summer. Redeployment of other vessels in the Calmac fleet would also carry benefits for the islands of Coll and Tiree, situated just west of Mull, as well as Colonsay, between Mull and Islay.
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We have a ferry situation going on here in western Washington too.(http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/235296.html ) Several older ferries have been taken out of service, deemed no longer safe. Now there's a huge gap for those who rely on those ferries to get to and from the mainland for work and other things. The state has a "if it's not broken, don't fix it" attitude and now suddenly it's broken and new ferries cost lots of $$'s so they are frantically shifting ferries from one run to another one. People are unhappy and concerned because now "their " ferry has moved to another location. I guess things of ferries are the same all over. Linda in Washington state
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