Displaying items by tag: Irish berth: Ardrossan
Ferry Woes in Scotland Develop at 'Irish' berth as Safety Issues Emerge at Ardrossan Harbour
Passenger ferry services on one of Scotland's busiest routes is to face a new wave of disruption after divers discovered safety issues at Ardrossan Harbour in north Ayrshire.
On Thursday, the Irish Berth was put out of action, as the harbour authority had ordered all users to cease operations at the port operated by the Peel Ports Group. It is expected the berth is remain to out of action until this Wednesday, 24 January.
Acording to The Herald, the last car ferry sailing to and from the berth in Ardrossan on the Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) route to Brodick, Isle of Arran, was due to be on Thursday afternoon.
This is the port’s only berth that can be used by the emergency/relief-ferry MV Alfred, as Afloat previously reported, is a catamaran on extended charter from Pentland Ferries, at a cost of £1m a month to cover for CalMac's ageing fleet.
Ardrossan does have another berth which is still operating, with Calmac's second ferry on the route, MV Isle of Arran, across to Arran on the Firth of Clyde, (though as of today, 22 Jan), sailings continue to be cancelled following Storm Isha and due to ongoing strong winds.
The ferry-berth scenario is the latest issue to hit Ardrossan, with CalMac already making arrangements to sail to neighbouring Troon when the new but considerably delayed and over-budget, first of twin hybrid-fuel powered ferries, MV Glen Sannox finally enters service.
This is because Ardrossan, will not be ready to handle the 102m newbuild ferry when it finally operates - as it will have a lack of storage facilities for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), which powers the vessel.
To read a statement from CalMac on the difficulties encountering the south-west Scotland port and much more, click here.