AN economics expert has said there is clear evidence that communities have “suffered greatly” from the demise of the vehicle-carrying ferries from Dunoon town centre to Gourock.
Neil Kay, Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Strathclyde, told the Sunday National that reinstating the service could reinvigorate the communities on both sides of the Clyde.
Speaking after giving his submission to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity (REC) Committee last week, Kay said the possibility of putting the service out to tender should be considered.
Commercial operators had been put off in the past, he said, by the relatively short duration of the contract and the fees charged for port services at Gourock by state-owned CMal. One report found these were more than the annual costs of investment and maintenance of the harbour.
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Kay said these obstacles could be overcome by the extending the contract from about six or seven years to 20 or 30 years to give operators the commercial confidence to build ferries for the service.
In addition, port facilities could be leased to the operator rather than charging fees, to help make the service a profitable option.
The current Gourock to Dunoon town centre ferry service operated by CalMac is passenger-only but carried vehicles up until 2011. There is a second ferry service which carries vehicles and passengers run by private operator Western Ferries (WF) which is located away from the respective town centres. In 2017 alone it carried more than 659,000 vehicles, more than one in five of the total vehicles carried within Scotland by all ferry operators that year.
Transport Scotland recently said that the town centre route would remain passenger-only in support of the Scottish Government’s climate change objectives.
However, restoration of a vehicle-carrying vessel would actually be consistent with, and help reinforce, the Government’s climate change objectives, Kay told the committee. “The considerable bulk of WF traffic tends to go into the towns anyway,” he said. “It just takes longer and travels further to get there, adding more to road usage and vehicle emissions in the process.”
Modern fuel-efficient ferries funded by outside investment would also help cut emissions.
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Users of the passenger ferries have complained that the current vessels are unsuitable. In less than four years there were 4500 cancelled sailings, with 678 of those in the first six months of 2019.
“This has led to a dramatic fall in the number of passenger carryings, despite a significant increase in the number of scheduled sailings,” said Kay.
“Restoration of a reliable vehicle-carrying option should actually boost public transport use here while reducing vehicle emissions compared to the WF alternative.”
Kay also said the decline of the service had a serious impact on businesses and the local communities, with many people moving away from the area because of the unreliability of the service.
Green MSP John Finnie, a member of the committee, said he supported the communities’ “long-standing calls for reinstatement” but said it would be prudent to wait for the committee’s findings and the Scottish Government’s response.
However, Michael Russell, SNP MSP for Argyll and Bute (above), said that he had argued for more modern vessels for the route along with Kay. “The Scottish Government has announced that it intends to commission these for the passenger service which continues to operate with public subsidy,” he said.
“This runs from town centre to town centre and links to the other transport services at Gourock and there are also plans to enhance that hub.
“However, Dunoon already has a very well used, reliable vehicle ferry service across the Clyde, which runs every 20 minutes at peak times, operated by Western Ferries and it also has a road link to the central belt.
“The case for a further vehicle service is therefore not one that I can support, especially at a time of severe pressure on public funding and considering the need to reduce, not increase, individual vehicle usage.”
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A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “The REC Committee’s inquiry is ongoing as such it would not be appropriate to comment on other submissions at this point.
“Scottish Government ministers and officials are expected to provide evidence in due course.
“Scottish Ministers announced their decision on the future of the service in December 2018, with transfer to CalMac to operate a passenger-only service as part of the [Clyde ferry] network.”
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