Customer Update - Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie services

Customer Update - Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie (Cowal and Kintyre) 

13 November 2024  

Following the news that MV Caledonian Isles - one of our major vessels - requires further repairs, we have planned for the vessel being unavailable for the duration for the winter timetable period. And with this being the case, we have published a new vessel deployment plan for the period 16 November 2024 - 27 March 2025. Below, we've shared information for customers on how this will affect services between Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie.  

Latest information on Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie services

An amended service will operate between Claonaig - Lochranza - Tarbert (Loch Fyne) up to and including Thursday 19 December. This will also cover Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie at certain times of day - to transport young people to and from school. You can view details for this service on our timetable pages. We'll review the potential to continue the Claonaig-Lochranza service beyond 19 December at a later date.

This plan is subject to change should there be a change to vessel availability - either MV Caledonian Isles returning to service or the introduction of a new vessel. As always, we will keep customers informed.   

Ticket information  

We are in the process of updating our online ticketing system to reflect these changes - and while this is ongoing some sailings will display as unavailable. This is temporary, so please do check back later.

Stay up to date   

As always, to stay up to date with the latest information on the service status of each route, please continue to check our service status and information page for these routes, check the X (formerly Twitter) feed - @CalMac_Updates, and sign up for SMS text subscription services.   

Thank you for your continued patience  

Again, we apologise for the inconvenience caused by having one of the large vessels on the fleet out of service for this period. It has been a challenging period for customers who have been affected.  

The revised plans outlined above takes on board the feedback from customers and communities on how we manage this situation - and reflects our commitment to meeting demand and maintaining a lifeline service across the network. We will continue to look at ways to further support services across the network.