Displaying items by tag: CalMac Seasonal Service
'Positive' Kintyre Ferry Discussions
#CampbeltownFerry - Campaigners according to BBC News who want a ferry link between Kintyre and Ayrshire to continue say a meeting with the transport secretary was "positive".
Calmac has run an experimental service linking Campbeltown and Ardrossan over the past three summers. Afloat.ie adds that as previously reported the seasonal route ended in September.
Campaigners said it had made a difference to Kintyre's economy and met Transport Secretary Derek Mackay to make their case.
A decision on the service's future is expected before Christmas.
The service - which was always envisaged as a pilot - provided three sailings in each direction each week.
It used a vessel (m.v. Isle of Arran) primarily used to provide an enhanced service between Ardrossan and Brodick on Arran over the summer months.
The sailings provided an alternative to the four-hour drive between Campbeltown and Glasgow and was the first regular car ferry service between Kintyre and Ayrshire.
For more details on this story, click here
#CalMacKintyre – Caledonian MacBrayne's Ardrossan-Campbeltown summer-only service timetabled to have started yesterday has run into technical problems with cancellation of sailings today and tomorrow, writes Jehan Ashmore.
This morning's 07.35 sailing from Campbeltown was cancelled and this also applies to this evenings 18.40 from Ardrossan due to a technical problem with the Isle of Arran (1984/3,296grt).
Further cancellation according to the Scottish operator is for tomorrow's (Saturday 2 May) with the 0700 sailing from Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre which has been cancelled for the same technical reason of the ferry. For the most up to date sailing crossing information click HERE.
This is the third season of the summer-only service as previously reported on Afloat.ie which is on a trial pilot-period to assess the 1 hour 40 minutes route's viability served by the 600 passenger / 60 plus vehicle ferry.
When originally launched in Spring 2013, the Ardrossan (Ayrshire)-Campbeltown (Argyll) link was CalMac's first new route for almost two decades. The pilot service is part of a Scottish Government's final Ferries Review that covers ferry operations over a timeframe up to 2022.
The summer service is to reinvigorate tourism in these regions and opening up interesting travel options to explore south-western Scotland.
Only on Saturdays the sailing schedule from the direction of Campeltown to Ardrossan sees the ferry make an en route call to Brodick on the Isle of Arann, dubbed Scotland in miniature.
From this island on the Forth of Clyde is where Calmac also operate a year –round 55 minute service between Brodick and Ardrossan served by the Caledonian Isles.
Due to the May Bank Holiday weekend, Calmac are making temporary sailing capacity arrangements on the route to Arann given the out-of-service Isle of Arann which would also normally partner Caledonian Isles on the Ardrossan-Brodick route.
For further details of a temporary timetable, click HERE.