Caledonian MacBrayne will extend Sunday sailings to Lochmaddy all year round from the start of the winter timetable in October, 2004 and will be operating extended weekend sailings to Raasay from May 2, 2004. Significant improvements have also been agreed on the Sound of Harris route from Berneray to Leverburgh, offering greater flexibility to customers on the spinal route through the islands, and islanders on Gigha will have their early morning runs extended all year round, instead of only during school days.

Both decisions were confirmed at the Spring meetings of the Shipping Services Advisory Committees North and South which were held in Islay at the end of last week (April 1 and 2). Proposals for timetables for winter 2004-5 and summer 2005 were agreed by the Company and Committees, enabling the Company to publish its marketing literature at an earlier stage in the year and also open its Reservations system for bookings earlier in 2004 than in previous years.

On the Lochmaddy to Uig route, the extension of the Sunday sailings to the winter timetable will be integrated with services from Barra on the Sound of Barra timetable. The Berneray to Leverburgh service will see the passage time cut by ten minutes on each sailing from one hour and ten minutes to one hour.

Route Manager David Taylor, who is responsible for both routes, said: “The change to the Sound of Harris service is possible because we now have MV Loch Portain bedded in comfortably and she has proved that she could cope with the adjustment of the shorter passage time. The extra ten minutes saved per sailing will add up to significant advantages for people who may want to travel and conduct business in a single day. The new timings, which will be introduced from October 2004, will offer greater opportunities to travel the length of the islands in one day.”

The Raasay to Sconser timetable will see a number of changes including the confirmation of the current request sailings on Saturdays at 0800 ex-Raasay and 0830 ex-Sconser as timetabled services.  Two return Sunday services are also being introduced on the route from the May Bank Holiday this year. Mr Taylor said: “I can confirm that the Sunday sailings at 1000 and 1600 ex-Raasay, returning half an hour later will be introduced on Sunday, May 2. We will not be waiting till next year for that, but will be operating them from May 2 and will be publicising that through our literature and marketing campaigns.”

The extension of the Sunday sailings between Lochmaddy and Uig will begin with the winter timetable in October, 2004. The sailings will be ex-Lochmaddy at mid-day and ex-Uig at 1400 and Mike Dean of Citylink confirmed that the bus company will offer a connecting service. And there was further good news for customers on that front with Citylink confirming that an Invergarry link to Inverness will offer better bus connections from May 31^st on the Tarbert to Uig service.

The North Area meeting also heard that CalMac is not in a position to meet a request from Harris for a Monday sailing to Harris in the winter. The company confirmed that this could not be achieved without an adverse impact on all the other Uist services.

A request for additional sailings between Stornoway and Ullapool on Mondays and Wednesdays is to be further investigated by CalMac who have also agreed to make the departure from Stornoway 0715 all year round from October, with the last sailing from Ullapool at 1715, apart from the ten-week summer peak period.

Meanwhile on the Gigha service, the early morning school run ex-Gigha at 0740 and ex-Tayinloan at 0800 will be extended to an all-year-round service from May 2, 2004. The service, which provided for school children during school periods but not school holidays, will now operate from Monday to Saturday and be extended to all-year.

CalMac also confirmed the start of the 19-week double vessel Islay service as May 21 and confirmed the reintroduction of the Islay/Colonsay/Oban return service on Wednesdays during that period, which extends to September 27, 2004. The Islay enhancement is being offered on the same basis as last year where it will only be reduced to one vessel during the 19 weeks if MV Isle of Arran, which is CalMac’s spare vessel, is needed to cover disruptions on other lifeline services.

ends

For further information on the contents of this News Release, please contact Hugh Dan MacLennan, Public Affairs Manager, Caledonian MacBrayne.

Tel: 0776 435 4021; e-mail hugh.maclennan@calmac.co.uk

Issued:  Sunday, April 4, 2004  : 1230