Caledonian MacBrayne fleet


The Caledonian MacBrayne fleet is the largest fleet of car and passenger ferries in the United Kingdom, with 34 units in operation and another 2 under construction. The company provides lifeline services to 23 islands off the west coast of Scotland, as well as operating routes in the Firth of Clyde.
Caledonian MacBrayne vessels can be readily identified by their black hulls and white superstructures. They have red funnels with black caps that display the Lion Rampant badge with masts in buff. The fleet can be categorised into various groups. Vessels are owned by the asset holding company Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited, which is in turn wholly owned by the Scottish Government.

Groups of vessels

Major units

There are presently ten vessels over 80m length in the CalMac fleet:
,
,
,
,
,
, and
MV Loch Seaforth.
These vessels usually operate on the longer crossings, with high passenger numbers.
MV Loch Seaforth, at 116m in length the largest vessel in the fleet, operates on the Ullapool to Stornoway, Lewis crossing. has the highest passenger capacity and can carry 1000 people on the Ardrossan to Brodick, Arran crossing. crosses The Minch from Uig, Skye, while, and are based in Oban, serving Mull, Coll, Colonsay, Tiree and the Outer Hebrides. is based in Mallaig and serves Armadale and South Uist. and serve Islay from Kennacraig. During the summer,, replaced at Islay in 2011, supplements the Ardrossan - Brodick service and sails to Campbeltown. She is a spare vessel during the winter months.
Two new dual fuel ferries are being built by Ferguson Marine Engineering. The first, named is due to enter service at Ardrossan, with the second, Hull 802 as yet un-named.

Clyde services

The Wemyss Bay to Rothesay route is operated by two vessels, built in Poland, and, which entered service in 2007. There was much controversy following the decision to award the shipbuilding contracts to yards outside Scotland. The streakers' removal from Rothesay was delayed by pier work to install an end-loading linkspan, allowing full ro-ro operation.
The former Clyde ferries,, and had provided the Dunoon and Rothesay services for the best part of 35 years. They were nicknamed the "streakers", because of their speed and ability to manoeuvre rapidly both at sea and in port. Juno and Jupiter were withdrawn from service in 2010, and by June 2011 Juno had been broken up at Rosneath, meanwhile Jupiter was sold to breakers in Denmark for recycling in that month.
From 2002, the service to Dunoon was supplemented by passenger catamaran, owned by Solent and Wightline Cruises and chartered by CalMac from Red Funnel Line. last served Dunoon on 29 June 2011, and was then scheduled to operate the summer relief on the Arran crossing. From 30 June 2011, the Gourock - Dunoon service was awarded on a passenger-only basis to the newly formed David MacBrayne Ltd subsidiary Argyll Ferries. Argyll Ferries purchased and a former Irish boat renamed to serve the route. Argyll Flyer was not available for the start of the passenger-only service due to prop shaft problems. The company leased the cruise boat from Clyde Cruises to start the service, but she was out of service with engine problems for most of the first day.

Loch class

The Loch class are a group of smaller vessels with a single car deck, running the length of the ship, with a ramp at each end. They vary in length from 54.27m down to 30.2m. Most are symmetrical when viewed from the side, with no operational bow or stern. Passenger accommodation is down one or both sides of the ship., and also have a lounge above the car deck. They operate on shorter crossings, usually between 5 and 30 minutes, although MV Loch Portain takes 70 minutes to cross the Sound of Harris between Berneray and Leverburgh.
The original four Loch class vessels were based on. At 30.2m in length, they can carry 12 cars and 200 passengers. The largest and newest,, is 54.27m by 13.90m and can carry 32 cars and 250 passengers. She was built for and has run on the Largs to Cumbrae route since 2007. A mere 7 centimetres shorter, and were built for the Skye crossing. They were made redundant by the opening of the Skye Bridge and eventually found redeployment elsewhere.
Of similar design, but larger than the Loch class, was launched in 2012 for the Raasay service. She is powered by a hybrid combination of batteries and a small diesel engine - a world first for a sea-going RO-RO vessel. A second hybrid ferry,, was launched in May 2013 for the Tarbert to Portavadie route. The third hybrid ferry,, was launched on 11 December 2015 and entered service on the Claonaig to Lochranza route in September 2016.

Passenger-only vessels

;MVs Argyll Flyer and Ali Cat
and the catamaran are passenger-only ferries used on the Gourock - Dunoon service. The ferries, formerly operated by Argyll Ferries, were acquired when the company was incorporated into Caledonian MacBrayne in January 2019.
;MV Chieftain
is a passenger-only vessel leased from Clyde Marine to operate the Gourock to Kilcreggan service since June 2020. She has the capacity for 100 passenegers.

Other vessels

There are three vessels in the fleet which cannot be listed in the above categories.
;MV Carvoria
is a small, 12 metre-long vessel used on the Kerrera service. She was built in 2017 by Malakoff Limited in Shetland. She is a bow loading vessel of similar design to the Island Class vessels and can take twelve passengers and one car, although due to vehicle restrictions on Kerrera she rarely carries cars. She is the smallest vessel in the fleet.
;MV Coruisk
is a 65 m "sheltered water vessel", operating on the Oban to Craignure route in summer, and relieving on the Clyde in winter. Her design allows her to make the crossing in reverse when sea conditions allow.
;MV Lochnevis
is a highly specialised ship serving the Small Isles of Eigg, Canna, Rùm and Muck from Mallaig. She is 49.2 m long, and has capacity for 190 passengers. Her vehicle deck can accommodate up to 14 cars, but is empty on most sailings due to the lack of roads and vehicle restrictions on the Small Isles. She is instead used mostly for goods and vital equipment for the islands. Lochnevis has a surprisingly large vehicle ramp, which dominates her appearance. This allows her to berth a considerable distance from slipways, protecting her exposed Azipod propulsion systems in shallow waters.

Fleet statistics