I READ with great interest the article by Hamish Morrison in the April 3 edition of the Sunday National (Government ferry adviser proposes new way forward) as well as the letters page under the heading “Fixing the ferries: Catamarans, smaller crews and shorter routes”.
To establish clarity following on from the contributions from your letters page, RMT has no say and never had any influence whatsoever in relation to the tonnage procured by CMAL and utilised by CalMac Ferries.
Furthermore RMT have never to my knowledge expressed an opinion on monohull or catamaran vessels for the CHFS network. Despite our reservations around CMAL we fully expect that they have carried out due diligence on any vessel procurement or potential procurement before spending taxpayers’ money on vessels.
READ MORE: Experts propose new ways forward from CalMac 'disaster area'
It seems to me that the frustrations and irritation at the delays in new tonnage are now being laid at the feet of CalMac and the RMT when it’s quite clearly Transport Scotland, Scottish Ministers and CMAL who are the guilty parties in this extraordinary show of incompetence and mismanagement. I fail to see how anyone could think these failings are somehow the fault of the workers or their trade union.
This mismanagement is now creating a toxic atmosphere in some of the social and mainstream media outlets and I think it’s becoming a witch hunt against the wrong people and organisations.
With reference to the Pentalina trials last year, and for the record, the owner of the Pentalina had made unauthorised modifications to the ship’s superstructure that could have led to disaster in the event of a fire on board the vessel. These modifications were far from of a minor health and safety nature and I stand by our decision to insist the MCA carry out a full inspection after RMT had been tipped off by concerned crew members onboard the Pentalina. To claim the Government ducked taking the RMT on over this matter is a reckless statement made by someone not conversant with the facts of the matter.
It is my belief Mr Banks, the Pentalina owner, pulled out of the deal with Transport Scotland as he was worried about further health and safety issues which could have ended up in the public domain.
Furthermore, Mr Pedersen in the article is portrayed as a ferry expert which I have never seen any evidence of, especially when his assertation regarding switching to catamarans would lead to a reduction in staffing levels is purely his opinion and has not been examined in any great detail. Also in the article Mr Drummond Managing Director of CalMac correctly makes the point that vessels are crewed in line with all safety legislation and protocols as well as that it is not always possible to crew vessels with local crew.
While debate and discussions are to be welcomed the current level of toxicity and attacks on CalMac by some newspapers and Tory politicians in conjunction with individuals on ferry action groups who are peddling their own business interests as opposed to the interests of the island communities, could lead to CalMac routes being unbundled and the privatisation and destruction of the iconic CalMac Ferries.
Gordon Martin
Regional Organiser, RMT
I’D like to clarify a point made in Hamish Morrison’s report in the Sunday National by Robbie Drummond, MD of CalMac Ferries. Mr Drummond states quite correctly that “crew numbers on ferries are set by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency”.
Much depends, however, on ship design and operating practices. The new Islay ferries with a capacity for 350 passengers, are being designed for a live-aboard crew complement of no less than 27. In comparison, Pentland Ferries’ catamaran Alfred with a greater passenger capacity for 430, has an MCA certified crew complement of just 13.
While there is overnight accommodation for crew, used during positioning voyages, the crew normally live ashore with their families in the Orkney community that the ship serves. In so doing they add greatly to the economic and well-being of that community, which is not the case when crew from outwith the community live aboard ship.
Not only is Alfred much less costly to operate and emits less CO2, such that it operates very reliably without a penny of public subsidy, but at a build price of £14 million, cost about a 10th of the estimated final cost of each of the two infamous hulks languishing at Ferguson’s yard in Port Glasgow. There is a better way.
Roy Pedersen
Inverness
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