THE first official voyage of the MV Glen Sannox is "liable to disruption or cancellation" due to high winds forecast, CalMac has said.
The operator issued the yellow warning on Sunday, the day before the ferry begins serving Arran from Troon, South Ayrshire.
However, tomorrow's sailing, set to take place at 6:30am from Troon and docking at Brodick, will no longer be the services maiden voyage.
Passengers at Troon travelling to Arran on Sunday coincidently became the first passengers to sail on the long-awaited Glen Sannox after being told they would sail on the MV Alfred.
It comes as all sailing for the MV Alfred on Monday, the ferry serving Troon to Brodick alongside Glen Sannox, were cancelled.
Originally due for delivery in 2018, the ferry and sister ship Glen Rosa have endured a saga of costly delays and technical problems at shipyard Ferguson Marine.
On social media, CalMac wrote: "Due to forecast high winds, the following sailings operated by MV Glen Sannox are liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice: Depart Troon – 06:30, depart Brodick – 08:40."
It comes amid excitement among islanders. Sheila Gilmore, chief executive of VisitArran told The National: “People are excited about it, it was quite emotional the first time we saw her out in the bay, that was a big thing.
“So we’re really looking forward to seeing her come into service.
“I think there’s a little bit of ‘we’ll believe it when we see it’ because we’ve kept taking one step forward, two steps back.
“But we want to be as positive as we can because this is going to offer some resilience in the network so that has to be a good thing and hopefully the reliability will reverse some of the media negativity that’s been there.”
CalMac previously said it is still dealing with a small number of issues on Glen Sannox, including oil contamination in a hydraulic system, which has forced the closure of a mezzanine deck.
The ferry operator said the closure will not affect capacity because of low demand over the winter period.
The 3000-tonne Glen Rosa is due to be handed over in September and costs for the two vessels are expected to be more than triple the original price tag of £97 million.
