It has been a frustrating wait for Arran residents with the construction of the Glen Sannox and its sister ship the Glen Rosa at Ferguson Marine shipyard having run into a multitude of issues, with costs spiralling to more than £300 million despite the initial contract costing £97m.
But at long last, the UK’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) ferry is set to make the journey across the Firth of Clyde and the anticipation on the island cannot be overstated.
Bill Calderwood, chair of Arran Community Council and secretary of the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee, can see the Brodick ferry terminal from his house and cannot wait to see the Glen Sannox arrive.
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“There is lots of enthusiasm, and the boat will be very welcome,” he told the Sunday National.
“Monday cannot come quick enough.”
Sheila Gilmore, chief executive of VisitArran, said: “People are excited about it, it was quite emotional the first time we saw her out in the bay, that was a big thing.
“So we’re really looking forward to seeing her come into service.
“I think there’s a little bit of ‘we’ll believe it when we see it’ because we’ve kept taking one step forward, two steps back.
“But we want to be as positive as we can because this is going to offer some resilience in the network so that has to be a good thing and hopefully the reliability will reverse some of the media negativity that’s been there.”
A reliable ferry service is crucial
THE last 12 months have been particularly challenging for Arran residents with the MV Caledonian Isles – which has served the Ardrossan to Brodick route since 1993 – being out of action for the bulk of 2024 and is still not due to return until the end of March.
The MV Isle of Arran has been providing a service from Ardrossan residents have been immensely grateful for but the ship is old, having been in action since the mid-1980s and considerably smaller than the Caley Isles. The MV Alfred has also been operating from Troon, but this has no catering facilities or WiFi and only has the capacity for 430 passengers, compared to the 1000 people the Caley Isles can take.
Gilmore stressed how vital it is for islanders to have a reliable ferry service.
“You can’t plan anything, you can’t go and visit friends and family if you don’t know if you’re actually going to get across,” said Gilmore (below).
(Image: Supplied) “You can’t make appointments. For people undergoing treatment, it’s been incredibly distressing [facing cancellations]. If you’ve been waiting on a surgery or procedure and the day comes and you can’t actually get over, that’s so challenging.”
Calderwood said: “I don’t think you can underestimate it [how important reliability is].
“We’ve got the small hospital here but the services are being reduced. We need to get to Crosshouse Hospital, dentists, various other folks.”
But what about Ardrossan?
WHILE there is much excitement for the Glen Sannox to set sail – and she will hopefully be followed by the Glen Rosa in the autumn – there is a sticking point as there remain huge questions over the future of a ferry route that has existed for generations.
The Glen Sannox will – at least for now – operate from Troon because both the new ferries are too big to berth at Ardrossan.
Given it takes longer to get to Arran from Troon, the Glen Sannox will be restricted to three daily return crossings compared to the usual five from Ardrossan. Once she begins sailing, the Isle of Arran is set to be deployed elsewhere on the network, so until the Caley Isles comes back in March, there will be no service at all from Ardrossan.
The MV Alfred is only due to continue sailing from Troon until the Caley Isles returns.
While moving the service to Troon from Ardrossan might not seem like too much upheaval to the average mainlander, Arran residents have a lot of concerns and are desperate to see the Ardrossan port developed to accommodate the new vessels.
Calderwood said: “One of the big concerns is we rely heavily on a lot of social care and health services coming in from Ardrossan on the 7am sailing. They will now have to be down in Troon even earlier than that and will then spend more time on a ferry.
(Image: PA) “We also rely heavily on teachers and other skills coming in and going down there [to Troon] we feel there is a risk to young folks and their education. Will teachers be prepared to do that?”
Gilmore said: “People have got medical and dental appointments set up through Ardrossan so to change all that to Troon is not as simple as people think. This has been a route for generations [Ardrossan to Brodick].”
‘Business case must be approved’
THE Ardrossan Harbour Project was given the go-ahead in 2018 by then transport minister Humza Yousaf who promised the town would remain the main gateway to Arran, but Transport Scotland paused the project in 2023 following concerns about rising costs and said a new business case would be developed.
But people living in Arran are still waiting for the Scottish Government to approve that business case. All the while, fears are growing about the future of the port.
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Calderwood said he is worried that even though the Caley Isles is due to come back to serve the Ardrossan route, she may eventually be deemed surplus to requirements once the Glen Rosa begins sailing from Troon.
Calderwood said: “We feel the Caley Isles will serve us this year, but with restrictions around the rest of the network, unless we can put a strong case together, there’s a fear we would end up with two vessels going to Troon until Ardrossan gets fixed.”
CalMac has been approached for comment on the future of the MV Caledonian Isles.
Gilmore said: “We need to get the business case for the improvement of Ardrossan Harbour finalised, we need that to go out for tender. That would be our next big push.”
A spokesperson for Ardrossan Harbour said: “Peel Ports remains fully committed to the original Port redevelopment programme and is ready to begin the public procurement process once the ministerial taskforce approves the revised business case.
“In the meantime, Ardrossan Harbour continues to operate safely and effectively, with no recent cancellations at the Arran berth due to maintenance, aside from scheduled repairs for vessel damage.”
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We acknowledge the call for a commitment to Ardrossan, and absolutely understand the views of the communities in favour of retaining it as the mainland port, and this has been laid out in the business review work accordingly.
“The business case and overall delivery of the project need to be supported by financial packages from each of the main funding partners. It is vital that these packages and legal agreements are clearly defined, affordable and ensure value for the public purse.
“The ongoing discussions and negotiations around the delivery of improvements at the port have been complex, but the business case review is substantially complete, and project partners continue to work on this as quickly as practicable.
“The next meeting of the Ardrossan Task Force will be convened soon after the business case and cost review exercise has been submitted to ministers for a decision.”