Ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) officials are again visiting the Northern Isles this week to finalise details of their consultation with local communities prior to the submission of its bid for the services to and from the islands.

CalMac, which has 150 years of experience providing lifeline ferry services on the West coast of Scotland, is one of the leading contenders to operate the service from next April. Over 20 consultation meetings have already been held in Orkney and Shetland with key customers and agencies on the islands as part of a wide-ranging consultation exercise.

Managing Director Lawrie Sinclair said in advance of this round of meetings that the Company's consultation meetings had enabled CalMac to identify solutions to the key service issues. He said: "We identified the management of cabins and livestock handling as key areas which had to be developed when we were last here and in consultation with the relevant sectors of the island communities, we have now developed potential solutions to a very advanced stage. We are now fine-tuning some of these suggestions before coming to final conclusions which will be presented to the CalMac Board in a fortnight's time prior to the finalization of what we believe will be the successful bid to operate the Northern isles service. I am greatly encouraged by the reception we have received and the positive reaction to our proposals so far. This visit will enable us to take forward the issues which remain outstanding. I am confident that we can resolve them all."

Mr. Sinclair stressed that CalMac is unable to reveal the final detail of its proposals for the service as some details have not been finalised. He said: "I hope the communities and business sectors will bear with us and appreciate that we are at a critical juncture in terms of the bid. It is simply not possible for me to go into too much detail publicly. It is not something that I would want to do in a bidding process at this stage and we would not expect our competitors to reveal their hand at this stage either. All will be clear when the bids are submitted and assessed and I am sure that our suggestions will be well received."

CalMac will be submitting its bid to the Scottish Executive by the closing date of November 1st. In its Annual Report and Accounts for 2004-5, published last week, CalMac reported an increase of 2.8% (144,000) in passenger carryings to 5.4 million and car traffic by 5.3% (55,000) to 1.1 million. The increases in traffic and general business performance saw the Company achieve its results with no increase in deficit Grant from the £25.9 million received in the previous year.