Comment posted 400 Rosneath residents protest in person on Kilcreggan Pier on SPT ferry plans by Councillor George Freeman.
Although the tender documents did not specify the need for a new-build vessel, the problem for SPT is that the report that went to the Operations Committee on 20 January stated that the price from Clydelink included a new-build vessel.
The minutes of that meeting confirm that the contract was awarded to Clydelink “based on the provision of a new-build 60 seat vessel”. The press release issued by SPT on the same day stated that Clydelink would be providing a new-build vessel.
Although I have continued to argue with SPT that the contract with Clydelink should now be cancelled and retendered as Clydelink are failing to comply with the decision of the Operations Committee, SPT continue to stick their heads in the sand on this issue. How we now end up with a 16 year old vessel is beyond me.
Along with other community representatives, we will continue to pursue this matter in an attemp to have a full investigation into the way that SPT have mishandled this issue.
I am now aware that the Island Princes has been moved from Rhu Marina to Silver’s Marine yard at Rosneath and is now out of the water in the yard. It is assumed that this is to allow part of the survey work to be carried out prior to any Passenger Certificate being issued by MCA Greenock.
We were informed by SPT that the alternative vessel was due to arrive yesterday although we were not given any details relating to its name etc. This vessel was to be used on the route if the Island Princes was not available.
I was recently informed by my sources that Clydelink had been trying to obtain a ferry from Ireland to operate on the Gourock – Kilcreggan route. This information appears to have been good as I viewed the MV Cailin Oir in the Gareloch today, moored just to the north of Silver’s yard. This vessel arrived in the Clyde yesterday.
I believe that it arrived from Ireland where it was up for sale at £310,000. I am told that this was the Cape Clear Island Ferry in West Cork. It was licensed to carry 72 passengers. It was built in 1999 and has two John Deere engines. It is 50 foot in length and has a beam of 17 feet and a draft of 5 feet. I believe that this is the alternative vessel that SPT have referred to in the latest Q&A document.
I have now asked MCA Greenock if they can provide me with information on any Passenger Certificates that this vessel currently holds to operate on the Clyde or any application that has been submitted to them for such a certificate.
It would certainly appear that this alternative vessel will also have to go through the MCA Greenock survey process before any Passenger Certificate can be issued. It is most unlikley that this can be done within the next six days.
Watch this space.
Recent comments by Councillor George Freeman
- Labour MSP Rhoda Grant’s response to Struan Lodge decision
Having now taken the time to read the original Breslin / Blair motion and what FA tells us was eventually agreed by the Council yesterday, this appears to be a serious climb down by Breslin and Blair.It is now clear that the Breslin / Blair motion would not have been supported by the Council and that is why the compromise by Walsh had to be put forward. We know that the ten Helensburgh councillors support the closure of all Council run care homes because of the ridiculously high costs and would never have supported the Breslin / Blair motion.
Even the Walsh motion that was approved by the Council did not lift the moratorium on placing any new residents in Struan Lodge. All it has done has kicked the issue into the long grass for a couple of months. That was to get Cllr Morton and her Lib Dem colleagues and Cllr Mulvaney and his Tory colleagues to support the Walsh motion.
In their motion that they were forced to withdraw, Breslin and Blair had asked for the Council to rescind the moratorium on new admissions with immediate effect. They were forced to backtrack on this as it was clear that Walsh and the opposition councillors would not support such a proposal.
They should be asked why they decided that they would continue to support the moratorium when the opposition clearly had the numbers to force any decision through the Council and by doing so, have let the Struan Lodge residents and staff down.
- Three administration members vote against agreed budgetary position on Struan Lodge
Having now taken the time to read the original Breslin / Blair motion and what FA tells us was eventually agreed by the Council today, this appears to be a serious climb down by Breslin and Blair.It is now clear that the Breslin / Blair motion would not have been supported by the Council and that is why the compromise by Walsh had to be put forward. We know that the ten Helensburgh councillors support the closure of all Council run care homes and would never have supported the Breslin / Blair motion.
Even the Walsh motion that was approved by the Council did not lift the moratorium on placing any new residents in Struan Lodge. All it has done has kicked the issue into the long grass for a couple of months.
In their motion that they were forced to withdraw, Breslin and Blair had asked for the Council to rescind the moratorium on new admissions with immediate effect. They were forced to backtrack on this as it was clear that Walsh and the opposition councillors would not support such a proposal.
They should be asked why they decided that they would continue to support the moratorium when the opposition clearly had the numbers to force any decision through the Council and by dooing so, have let the Struan Lodge residents and staff down
- MSP v Council Leader now ‘last man standing’ face-off with SNP and Argyll the losers
MB, you say that “The whole M Breslin and Blair thing is a joke, whilst the two of them where turned over by there party it’s refreshing to see at least one did the right thing”.Given that he was elected on an SNP ticket, surely the right thing would be for Mike Breslin to resign as a councillor and then take his chance in the subsequent by-election as a Tory / Lib Dem / Labour / Independent candidate? Surely that would be the honerable thing to do?
It looks like he does not have the courage of his convictions.
- Struan Lodge on agenda for today’s council meeting
Simon, you are not far of the mark. How about the Argyll First lot (Philand, Kelly and McAlpine)? It is clear that they do not have the guts (or backbone) to take a hard decision and are happy for their own constituents to subsidise Struan Lodge in Dunoon when their own constituents will see services to their own eldery folk in the Mid Argyll area being cut. - Struan Lodge on agenda for today’s council meeting
Neil, it is clear that you do not have clue as to what you are talking about.
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Although the tender documents did not specify the need for a new-build vessel, the problem for SPT is that the report that went to the Operations Committee on 20 January stated that the price from Clydelink included a new-build vessel.
The minutes of that meeting confirm that the contract was awarded to Clydelink “based on the provision of a new-build 60 seat vessel”. The press release issued by SPT on the same day stated that Clydelink would be providing a new-build vessel.
Although I have continued to argue with SPT that the contract with Clydelink should now be cancelled and retendered as Clydelink are failing to comply with the decision of the Operations Committee, SPT continue to stick their heads in the sand on this issue. How we now end up with a 16 year old vessel is beyond me.
Along with other community representatives, we will continue to pursue this matter in an attemp to have a full investigation into the way that SPT have mishandled this issue.
I am now aware that the Island Princes has been moved from Rhu Marina to Silver’s Marine yard at Rosneath and is now out of the water in the yard. It is assumed that this is to allow part of the survey work to be carried out prior to any Passenger Certificate being issued by MCA Greenock.
We were informed by SPT that the alternative vessel was due to arrive yesterday although we were not given any details relating to its name etc. This vessel was to be used on the route if the Island Princes was not available.
I was recently informed by my sources that Clydelink had been trying to obtain a ferry from Ireland to operate on the Gourock – Kilcreggan route. This information appears to have been good as I viewed the MV Cailin Oir in the Gareloch today, moored just to the north of Silver’s yard. This vessel arrived in the Clyde yesterday.
I believe that it arrived from Ireland where it was up for sale at £310,000. I am told that this was the Cape Clear Island Ferry in West Cork. It was licensed to carry 72 passengers. It was built in 1999 and has two John Deere engines. It is 50 foot in length and has a beam of 17 feet and a draft of 5 feet. I believe that this is the alternative vessel that SPT have referred to in the latest Q&A document.
I have now asked MCA Greenock if they can provide me with information on any Passenger Certificates that this vessel currently holds to operate on the Clyde or any application that has been submitted to them for such a certificate.
It would certainly appear that this alternative vessel will also have to go through the MCA Greenock survey process before any Passenger Certificate can be issued. It is most unlikley that this can be done within the next six days.
Watch this space.
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From Gerard Gaffney: George,
Its dimensions are :
Length: 15.1m
Beam: 5.1m
Draught: 1.5m
If it is indeed the second vessel, and my understanding of Nautical Standards are correct, the Irish MCA standards are somewhat lower than UK MCA standards which should mean that the vessel will require a fair amount of work to bring her up to standard suitable for a passenger carrying vessel in UK Waters.
As regards the Island Princess, it was visited all day by the MCA from Greenock who will have certainly carried out a full hull inspection (as she is out of the water). They may also have checked the internals etc or go back tomorrow.
When they eventually finish their inspections, they will leave Clydelink with a list of alterations / improvements required prior to issue of a Certificate of any description.
How long these alterations / improvements will take – is anyone’s guess.
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It’s after 12 Noon on April Fool’s Day but is Clydelink joking , the MCA surveys on either of the mentioned vessels could take well over a week even before they get their UK certifications AND time to do some ‘working-up’ trials at piers and to train the uninatiated crews for the ferry run. It took the crews of the newly formed Argyll Ferries Ltd probably over a month to bed down. Will Clyde Marine boats stay on the route under contract until the whole darned thing is resolved?
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Interesting to see if the MCA pass this use of boathooks and fast footwork during the berthing milarky. Just run this past me again. At some point a deckhand has to clamber up onto Kilcreggan pier, in a south – southwesterly force 4-6 midwinter with iced up decking and ladder, whilst his mates, for’d and aft, are entertaining the “drooked punters” with some fancy footwork and nifty slight of hand with them fearsome old fashioned boathooks like they have on real BoT sportsdays – and on a 70 foot launch with minimum shelter deck? Says a lot about the planning of this great venture. Bit premature with the P45s at Kilcreggan I think? Sorry, but is all this for real?
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I think you will find Hamish that they will use a similar system to that used by the Dunoon ferries. Nobody will be clambering up icy piers, the mooring can all be done from on board.
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Jim B
Let’s hope that embarkation is made as simple as possible. The fact that Clydelink has yet to run a trial and or service can only lead to speculation. Should we be comparing one service provider against another, then who do you use as a bench mark? I for one wouldn’t pick the Dunoon ferry, perhaps we should be looking to emulate a Scandinavian or Dutch example as best practice?
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Or Mr Souter’s Auckland ferries maybe?
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We should all stop fooling around with sarcastic comments on this situation and do something about it by complaining how badly we have been let down by SPT.
No matter what, we will be left with what appears to be a much inferior service to what we have now and have in fact been deceived.
It was up to SPT to ensure that we had a new vessel.They have failed. A letter of complaint to the Scottish Parliament by each of our supporters is the answer.Look on the website all the info is there.Please do it.
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Noreen
Sorry if I came across as flippant – it was never my intention. Yes you are right in that SPT has been less than effective. Equally, it is important that the MCA say the replacement boat passes muster and the crew have the knowledge and procedures to run the route for commuter traffic.
Robert is right too – directly attacking the SPT will not change very much, the shambles they have got themselves into is perhaps indicative of their lack of expertise and they will simply batten down the hatches until things cool off. As he says there needs to be some form of EU review. The people of Dunoon lost the fight for a direct vehicle ferry which has had consequences for us in the Cowal hinterland. The fact that the Clyde estuary lacks integrated shipping routes is a disaster for us all. It doesn’t make business sense; it doesn’t make economic sense and it doesn’t make people sense. There should be a drive to harness all the expertise available and if I have been flippant, I apologise
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I don’t really see anyone ‘fooling around with sarcastic comments’ if you read them carefully. I’m serious about Souter’s operation in New Zealand – for example all his Fuller’s passenger ferries are wheelchair accessible, as are most but not all of the landings.
As SPT’s behaviour is reminiscent of that of a bunch of rotten goons running some tinpot festering tropical one-party joke state, the people who need these ferry services should treat them accordingly. If, as it would appear, the Holyrood government seems determined to court disaster by standing back until the service collapses (or a boat full of people gets into trouble?) surely the best bet is to petition the EU – which does take the provision of public transport seriously – to start legal action, and financial sanction, against the government for failure to govern.
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On second thoughts, if it does come to an appeal to Europe by the people of the Rosneath peninsula, it will be such a severe indictment of the current Holyrood government – regardless of the roots of SPT’s rottenness – that the SNP could lose a great deal of goodwill in their push for more independence.
The Edinburgh City Council mismanagement of the tram project through TIE should be warning enough for any politician.
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The loss of jobs on the pier are not good but look at how the seabus berths at gourock with no staff shore side, it works fine, always has
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There is a EU/Irish UK study group which looks at best practice for small ferries check out http://www.smallferriesproject.com/ Of course SPT knew this didn’t they?
Executive summary at http://www.smallferriesproject.com/SFP_ExecutiveSummary_English_Sept10_WEB.pdf
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On 5th May , the stand-by boat ‘Cailin Oir’ (the Golden Girl) was on the run due to the fact that one of the Island Princess twin engines was kyboshed and she was taken off roster for re-engining , how long that will take? Like the IP , there isn’t a whole lot of shelter deck space onboard but has paded benches of sorts. The company didn’t expect to use their second boat so soon and wasn’t fully certificated by the MCA , so the total number of passengers allowed was a measly 12.
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