A six year contract to deliver ferry services between Dunoon in Argyll and Gourock on the east shoreside of the Firth of Clyde, will be won b y one of four companies shortlisted by the Scottish Government.
They are:
- Clyde Marine Services Ltd
- Cowal Ferries Ltd
- Highland and Universal Securities Ltd
- Western Ferries (Clyde) Ltd
The specification for the service is being withheld until after the General Election on 6th May, to avoid it becoming an electoral issue. Transport is a matter devolved to the Scottish Parliament and is not a concern of the UK Parliament at Westminster, to which MPs will be returned after 6th May.
The Dunoon-Gourock route is currently subsidised by the Scottish Government at around £3 million per annum in respect of foot passengers.
Clyde Marine Services Ltd runs the passenger ferry service from Gourock to Helensburgh and Kilchreggan for the troubled Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). It also operates a fleet of tugs on the Clyde waterway.
Cowal Ferries Ltd is owned by Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac), the state owned and iconic west coast island ferry operator.
Highland and Universal Securities is owned by the family of Brian Souter who, with his sister Ann Gloag, owns the bus operator, Stagecoach. Highland and Universal Securities is already a ferry operator through a subsidiary company, Fullers Group Ltd – but not in Scottish waters. The fifteen Fullers Group ferries ply their trade our og Auckland, in the north island of New Zealand, carrying around 4 million passengers a year.
Western Ferrries (Clyde) Ltd has a long standing subjective gripe focused on CalMac, born, as many such gripes are, from historical differences. It runs a fast vehicle ferry service from Hunters Quay, north of Dunoon, to McInroy’s Point, south of Gourock – a useful route for traffic running between Argyll and the south.
It is certain that, when the specifcation for the route is published, it will be read on a line-by-line basis and disputed by a host of different conspiracy theorists. Batten down the hatches for more of the usual.
‘The specification for the service is being withheld until after the General Election on 6th May, to avoid it becoming an electoral issue……’
Now why would that be? It’s not an electoral issue, it’s an issue of trust.
Could the delay be because the transport minister has sold Dunoon down the river, and reneged on a clear manifesto commitment?
So much for the SNP’s brave new world – what a sell-out!
Disgusting.
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For Bill Jardine: Time will tell. On evidence, we can see no reason to have confidence in the current Transport Minister.
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