MV Alfred at both berths, Brodick, Isle of Arran
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- čas přidán 29. 04. 2023
- MV Alfred at both berths, Brodick, Isle of Arran at lunchtime today, trying out the regular MV Caledonian Isles berth for the first time.
Bob Haddow has a chat with me at Copperwheats Coffeehouse afterwards too.
Meanwhile MV Pentalina, the replacement for MV Alfred, had a fire in the engine room, took in water, ran aground and the 60 passengers had to be taken off in the lifeboats.
A 'serious incident'!
The story continues...:-)!
@davetheraverovingtherock
Dave, a huge thanks for taking this video. It is very helpful. It might be useful to allay some fears. Firstly, from reasonably well informed sources on Orkney, the MV Pentalina was beached deliberately by the Master as passenger safety is paramount. An incredibly difficult decision for the Master, but a fire aboard a ship I has catastrophic potential. The Pentland Firth is a very hazardous channel at the best of times. Eye witnesses onboard (who couldn’t swim as you wisely mention) expressed relief as they ship was stabilised immediately upon beaching. That allowed the RNLI to embark passengers safely. The Coastguard and local emergency services arranged for the passengers to be conveyed on the mainland (of Orkney) to the warmth and safety of the local Cromarty Village Hall. As far as the MV Pentalina is concerned, the ship was moved to the link span for hull survey at St Margaret’s Hope. The intention is for MV Pentalina to go to her usual (annual) drydock location in Aberdeen for repairs and MCA inspection. Arrangements have been made with the competitor Northlink Ferry company to put in place extra sailings to cover the absence of MV Pentalina. The MV Alfred is on charter and ALL will be done to maintain that charter. Why? Because CMAL is close to collapse as the aged fleet it owns and charters to CalMac has dangerously low reserve vessel capacity. On Arran, folk are inconvenienced by an empty Co-op. The terms of CMAL/CalMac contract have already been breached multiple times. In our case the Equality Act 2010 has also been breached and is costing Arran 12 jobs as we cannot get a hotel renovation completed due to the ferry problems. That is because our MD was injured (TBI aboard MV Caledonian Isles) and has to attend mainland hospital visits. For many islanders, the current mess means you either miss your hospital appointments or in the worst case, as happened to a friend in Sannox who visited us at Sannox, discussed how he was worried about missing his oncology appointments at the Beatson due to the ferry mess. He is now dead. Whether missed hospital appointments were a factor we will never know. But CalMac and CMAL management should be commended as they are actually doing something historic here in bringing auxiliary capacity onto lifeline ferry routes. One last point from personal experience. The CalMac crew have always done their best for us. As a disabled passenger (spinal surgery), the CalMac crews have always helped to their best ability. Indeed the CalMac crews should be getting medals as they worked all through Covid and put themselves in harms way to keep the ferry services going. The one ray of sunlight here is that if this wonderful piece of co-operation between CalMac/CMAL and Pentland Ferries works… if MV Alfred is a success on routes such as from Arran, then 4 of these ships can be built for the price of one MV Glen Sannox. That means more sailings; longer sailing days (5am to 11pm); simpler “turn up and sail” services for islanders and visitors. Crucially for the RMT it means MORE seafarer jobs are created. The alternative is structural failure of the lifeline ferry services. In that scenario maybe empty shelves in the Co-op is the least of our worries. To put that into perspective, two islands are already looking to have Ministry of Defence Landing Craft deployed rather than be without ANY ferry for 3 weeks without a ferry. It is at times like these where some comfort can be seen when organisations pull together and we see vessels such as MV Alfred being tested for size at the Brodick link span. A sincere thanks to all who have made this happen.
That's very interesting
I wonder if it will be recalled to Orkney now after the MV Pentalina’s misfortunes. (Thankfully all passengers and crew safely ashore).
Very good video. How long will the Caledonian Isles be out of action ?
This catamaran is additional capacity to help the Caledonian Isles. We have 2 decent sized vessels just now on the Brodick route
So will the Pentland team berth the vessel but the CalMac team load and unload?
Yes, they berth it and we load it as they ask for it
@@davetheraverovingtherock As we found out for ourselves on Sunday, the Alfred is basic (on-board) but it was there, we had a really well organised loader, and the sailing was even smoother than the CalMac's... So it was all good...
You are such a drama queen over the MV Pentalina. I have nothing but praise for the Captain and crew over the quick and correct decisions made.. You are welcome to argue the toss ONCE YOU KNOW THE TRUTH about what happened and in the order of how it was dealt with.
I wouldn't argue the toss because we agree. I'm sure the praise is warranted, it never occurred to me that it wouldn't be to be honest. I certainly haven't questioned the decisions they made at all, and I wouldn't. I'm not a captain. The drama is all coming from you.
@@davetheraverovingtherock Perhaps you should re watch the video and think about what you said and the manor of how it was said. Commenting on something without knowing the facts makes anyone look stupid. I stand firmly in what i said..
Very good advice. You would do well to take it yourself. I don't wish the label 'stupid' for you. The facts were quoted straight from the News. I work for the ferry...I would never question the Captain's decisions, or try to explain them....I'm not qualified. Simply untrue.
@@davetheraverovingtherock bottom line. Don't believe anything you read or see in the press. Drama makes wages.
@@alanhunter2051 It can do indeed. And thanks for your input which is honest and well meant. I appreciate everyone's viewpoints and agree with all you said about the Captain's decisions.