Customer update - Mallaig - Lochboisdale services, August 2024
Customer update - Mallaig to Lochboisdale services, August 2024
Update 29 August 2024
Repairs to MV Lord of the Isles were completed - and she has returned to service. For the very latest service information for the route to/from South Uist, please visit our Service Status & Information page.
Update 21 August 2024
Following on from our last update to customers, repairs to MV Lord of the Isles are now almost complete, and she is expected to return to service on Friday 23 August, one day later than previously communicated. This will have an affect on services to/from South Uist and between Oban-Craignure (Mull) for Thursday 22 August and Friday 23 August - and details of these are outlined below.
Services to / from South Uist
MV Isle of Mull will operate one return trip from Oban to Lochboisdale on Thursday 22 August, and the vessel will then operate a return sailing from Lochboisdale to Oban on Friday 23 August as per the previously agreed amended timetable to accommodate livestock sales. On her expected return, MV Lord of the Isles will operate MV Isle of Mull's sailings, until the latter returns from Lochboisdale, South Uist.
We will also continue to run additional Barra -Eriskay (Sound of Barra) sailings until Friday morning to add extra contingency for those travelling via Oban-Castlebay.
Full details are available on our Service Status and Information page for the route.
Customer bookings to/from South Uist
We anticipate customers who have made reservations for travel to/from South Uist will be accommodated on the additional Oban-Lochbosidale sailings or using the Oban-Castlebay and Barra-Eriskay (Sound of Barra) services.
We will contact those customers with bookings for travel to/from South Uist via sms text message with details on next steps and support.
There may be a slight delay while our booking system is updated, and traffic moves take place. Thank you in advance for your patience while this update takes place.
Services to/from Oban-Craignure (Mull)
Since MV Isle of Mull will be deployed to support services to/from South Uist, this means two return sailings she was scheduled to operate on Thursday 22 August will be cancelled, however MV Loch Frisa will operate an additional return sailing.
On the morning of Friday 23 August, pending successful sea trials on Thursday 22 August, MV Lord of the Isles will cover for MV Isle of Mull on the Oban-Craignure service, before operating an Oban- Lochboisdale that afternoon. Full details are available on our Service Status and Information page for the route.
Customer bookings to/from Oban-Craignure (Mull)
We will send a sms text message to those customers who have reservations for travel between Oban-Craignure which are affected with a request to call our Customer Engagement Centre to discuss travel options.
Passenger rights
For full details about your passenger rights entitlements due to this technical disruption, please visit our dedicated web section , where you'll also find a link to our online claim form.
We again apologise for the disruption caused by the repairs to MV Lord of the Isles and thank the South Uist community, and all customers who have been affected, for their patience.
We also recognise that the disruption to the Oban-Craignure service will be challenging. Support from MV Isle of Mull helps us to accommodate customers displaced and ensure essential supplies and traffic can travel to and from South Uist. This is greatly appreciated by Caledonian MacBrayne and the community on South Uist.
Update 19 August 2024
As per our last update, we planned to provide a further update to our customers on Mallaig - Lochboisdale services. We now expect MV Lord of the Isles to undertake sea trials on Wednesday, and if successful, the vessel will return to service on Thursday 22 August. We will provide a further update on this on Wednesday 21 August.
Services to/from South Uist
This means further amendments to our services to/from South Uist will be in place until end of Wednesday 21 August at the earliest.
We have reviewed our vessel deployment options and with no other vessels available we are unable to provide a direct service to/from Lochboisdale - and unfortunately the Mallaig - Lochboisdale service will remain cancelled up to and including Wednesday 21 August.
Wherever possible, and where capacity allows, we plan to continue to accommodate customer bookings via our alternative services between Uig - Lochmaddy, or between Oban - Castlebay - where we have added extra timetabled sailings between Ardmhor (Barra) and Eriskay across the Sound of Barra, which will support travel to South Uist. These additional sailings are aligned to the Oban - Castlebay service.
As always, the very latest information, and any subsequent details on these services will be shared on our Service Status & Information pages.
Customer bookings
If you have a booking for Mallaig - Lochboisdale for Wednesday 21 August, we will contact you via SMS text message. Please call either our Customer Engagement Centre or your port of departure to discuss alternative travel options.
There may be a slight delay while our booking system is updated, and traffic moves take place. Thank you in advance for your patience while this update takes place.
Passenger Rights
For full details about your Passenger Rights entitlements due to this technical disruption, please visit our dedicated web section, where you'll also find a link to our online claim form.
We apologise to all customers affected by this disruption to our service and thank you for our patience. We are grateful to the community in South Uist for their patience and support. Thank you also to all members of our team who have been working hard on minimising the level of disruption.
Update 15 August 2024
We expect MV Lord of the Isles to return to service on Wednesday 21 August 2024. As per our previous updates, the vessel is currently undergoing repair, following a small fire on board on 6 August, which led to a failure of one of its engines.
Services to/from South Uist
This means further amendments to our services to/from Uist until the end of Tuesday 20 August.
We plan to accommodate customer bookings via our service between Uig-Lochmaddy, or Oban-Castlebay - where we have added extra timetabled sailings between Barra and Eriskay across the Sound of Barra, which will support travel to South Uist. These additional sailings are aligned to the Oban-Castlebay service.
The Mallaig-Lochboisdale service, normally operated by MV Lord of the Isles, will remain cancelled, and a review is expected on Monday 19 August regarding services from Wednesday 21 August. Due to MV Isle of Mull returning to the Oban-Craignure service, and with no additional available vessels in the network, it will not be possible to operate a service between Oban-Lochboisdale between Saturday 17 August - Tuesday 20 August, inclusive.
The latest information, and any subsequent details on these services will be shared on our Service Status & Information pages.
Please be aware that our system is currently being updated with these changes - please bear with us while this work is carried out.
Customer bookings
Our team has contacted all affected customers travelling between Saturday 17 August and Tuesday 20 August by text message with advice to call either our Customer Engagement Centre or their port of departure to discuss alternative travel options.
Thank you in advance for your patience - our teams are working hard to assist customers with suitable alternatives.
Oban-Craignure service
From Saturday 17 August, the Oban-Craignure service will resume its normal two-vessel timetable with MV Isle of Mull and MV Loch Frisa.
Previously, MV Isle of Mull, a vessel on this route, had been deployed to South Uist to provide emergency cover. With no additional vessels in the network to support, this ensured essential supplies and traffic could travel to and from South Uist.
We want to apologise to all customers affected by this disruption to our service and thank you for our patience. We are grateful to the community in South Uist for their patience and support over the past week, and those commercial customers who were able to work with us, and delay travel to help those who needed to travel urgently.
Thank you also to all members of our team who have been working hard on minimising the level of disruption, especially during this busy time of year.
Update 13 August 2024
We are keen to share the latest information with you on our Mallaig-Lochboisdale services.
On Tuesday 6 August, the service was diverted to Armadale, following a small fire on MV Lord of the Isles, which led to the failure of one of the engines. The vessel is now undergoing repairs in dock.
Our team has been working on alternative plans for this service, given that there are no spare vessels to directly replace MV Lord of the Isles.
Oban - Lochboisdale service
Instead, a service will operate between Oban-Lochboisdale with MV Isle of Mull from Tuesday 13 August to Friday 16 August. Full details are available on our service status and information pages for the route.
Space on this service is for those customers with bookings who have been displaced from the Mallaig-Lochboisdale service. The service won't be available for new bookings until all those existing customers who still wish to travel have been accommodated.
Further details on services from Saturday 17 August will be shared on our service status and information pages when we have an update on repairs to MV Lord of the Isles.
Oban - Craignure service
Since MV Isle of Mull will need to be deployed to the Oban-Lochboisdale route, an amended timetable will be in operation between Oban-Craignure from Tuesday 13 August to Friday 16 August. Full details are available on our service status and information pages for the route.
Customer bookings
Our team is in the process of contacting all customers who are affected. We'll do this in date order. There may be a slight delay while our booking system is updated, and traffic moves take place. Thank you in advance for your patience while this update takes place.
Please continue to check our service status and information pages for the latest details on each route prior to travel.
We apologise to all customers affected and thank all those involved for your understanding and support.
Update 7 August 2024
We want to let our customers know that services between Mallaig-Lochboisdale up to and including Saturday 10 August have been cancelled.
This decision is in response to a small fire on board MV Lord of the Isles on Tuesday 6 August, which was quickly extinguished, but led to a subsequent engine issue. The service had already been cancelled for Wednesday 7 August due to the poor weather conditions.
We apologise to our customers who were affected on the sailing - and to those of you who had planned to travel on the service this week. Thank you to our crew and emergency response team for their quick and professional expertise - and to Police Scotland and The Highland Council for their support.
Vessel repairs
To help us prioritise efficiency and speed of repair - MV Lord of the Isles will now make her way to Greenock for further investigations. Moving the vessel to a suitable repair facility also frees up Armadale port avoiding further disruption to the Mallaig-Armadale service.
Next steps for Mallaig - Lochboisdale service
There will be understandable concern about the service cancellations. Our team is currently working at pace on alternative options for the route. We will share more information with you on this as soon as we can.
Customers with bookings
We are contacting all customers with bookings on the service up to and including Saturday 10 August with further support and information. As always, we will share the very latest information on our services via our service status and information page for the route.
Again, we would like to apologise to all customers affected and thank all those involved for your understanding and support.