(14.00 update below) Sailings in both directions on this route have been cancelled for the morning of Tuesday 1st May.
Clydelink has published the times of coach services that will operate for the day in place of the ferry. The journey time is around 90 minutes.
- Courtesy coaches will leave from Kilcreggan Pier at 0745, 0815, 1045 and 1115.
- Courtesy coaches will leave from the front door at Gourock Station at 0645, 0915, 0945, 1215.
This decision had to be made following an incident off Kilcreggan Pier on Monday where a creel line became entangled in a propeller.
Clydelink says: ‘After an engineers report it was decided to suspend the morning ferry services for 1st May. Courtesy coach transfer is being provided, free of charge, by Clydelink and this has been published on the company website and Twitter feed.
‘The matter of creels laid in the path of the Gourock to Kilcreggan ferry service has been raised with Clydeport, the Statutory Harbour Authority.
‘It is anticipated that Clydeport will, through the appropriate means. and in conjunction with Clydelink, seek to remove any obstruction placed in close proximity to the operational route.’
Update 08.30 1st May: We have heard this morning from Councillor George Freeman that SPT has confirmed to him that it a detached string of creels fouled the Island Princess’s propeller and and damaged one engine. He enquired of SPT about the availability of a replacement boat, without response. He is aware that a second boat acquired from Ireland by Clydelink, the Cailin Oir, is the subject of an application for a passenger certificate to MCA Greenock.
The Kilcreggan Ferry website will be updating on the situation.
14.00 update
With ongoing engineering work on the damaged engine, courtesy coaches will operate for the remainder of today.
- Leaving Kilcreggan at 1615 and 1705.
- Leaving Gourock at 1500, 1730 and 1835.
Those creels have been there for years and outside of the required 200m approach exclusion zone. Perhaps the antique skipper should be hanging up his rowlock’s? Is this another example from the catalog of errors?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
The creels that did the damage had come free and were drifting. That is not a situation any sklpper can avoid.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
By an Order made under the Inshore Fishing (Scotland) Act 1984, sea fishing by trawlers
within the Firth of Clyde is prohibited between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday. Creel
fishermen may lay static gear on the seabed of narrow channels as defined above between
midnight Friday and midnight Sunday, providing that the riser(s) is at least 50 metres from
the channel edge.
Any creels laid must be adequately marked at each end by buoys in accordance with the
Clyde IFG code. The riser buoys should clearly splay the name of the fishing boat that
has laid the creels. Creels should not be laid in the approaches to berths, piers, jetties, on
marked ferry crossings, marinas and anchorages.(Clydeport Regs March 2012)
HM Clyde Port has separate Regs which place exact distances for laying gear from channels and jetties – I think its 50m, but there’s a lot of very small print. But they do stipulate that all marker lines should sink when detached from creels and gear.
Down on the South Coast of England there are problems with pot and creel lines having steel jiggers attached to the marker buoys, contact causes costly damage to vessels and the RYA and other marine organisations were asking for reports on such instances where fouling occurred.
So boats do run down creel lines and drifting gear. The current Kilcreggan ferry operator may now think it prudent, at the very least, to install strippers or knives on both propeller shafts. I hope someone is collating all these misfortunes for a submission to SPT who have done more damage this year to integrated transport around the Clyde than this ferry’s run in with a floating creel line or flotsam
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Do you not think that the submission would fall on deaf / complacent / stupid ears?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Aye Robert probably all three, but some submissions may stick. SPT are the guys running the show, and they’re the guys that have to be networked and cajoled. What’s needed are Friends of the ferry along the lines of the the Friends of the Carlisle Settle line http://www.settle-carlisle.co.uk/about_foscl.cfm or the Dales Bus service http://www.dalesbus.org/ both are real campaign groups with successive wins under their belts – if the ferry numbers fall, it will be a bus replacement then that will be withdrawn and the SPT bean counters will be happy.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0