CalMac Ferries Ltd

CalMac Ferries Ltd., (CFL) which was incorporated in May 2006 (SC302282), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of David MacBrayne Ltd, which is wholly owned by Scottish Ministers.

As a result of corporate restructuring which took place in October 2006 as part of the preparation for the tender process for the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services, CFL took over operation of these services as successor to Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd.

As a separate element of this corporate restructuring, Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd had its name changed to Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd. (CMAL) and retained ownership of the vessels and piers which are required for the operation of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry services.

Under the new arrangements, CMAL leases the vessels and piers to the operator of the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry services (currently CFL). CMAL is also wholly owned by Scottish Ministers and is based in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde.

CFL and CMAL are two entirely seperate entities. CFL provides certain services to CMAL under contractual arrangements.

All employees of Caledonian MacBrayne Limited, with a small number of exceptions, transferred their employment to CFL with effect from 1 October 2006. The transfer had no impact upon employees' terms and conditions. There will be no alteration in ships' livery or branding.

CalMac Ferries Limited has one wholly owned subsidiary:  Caledonian MacBrayne Crewing (Guernsey) Limited, which employs and supplies all sea going staff (approx 770) to CFL. 

All of the services operated by CalMac Ferries Ltd are provided under the terms and conditions contained in the Public Service Contract of Clyde and Hebridean Ferry Services between Scottish Government and CFL.

CalMac Ferries Ltd currently charters a fleet of 29 vessels from CMAL to provide passenger, vehicle and shipping services to the islands off the West Coast of Scotland and in the Clyde estuary. Two other vessels are retained on separate charters. There are currently 25 routes within the network. In the year ended 31 March 2010, nearly 4.8 million passengers, 1.1 million cars, 93,000 commercial vehicles and 11,360 coaches were carried.

This was the fourth consecutive year more than 4.5 million passengers and over one million accompanied cars were carried on the Company’s services.