New freight only sailings between Troon and Arran were introduced by CalMac this morning to provide support to the island.
Following successful trials late last week, the twice-daily, Monday to Friday service got underway today and will be dedicated to carrying freight only between Troon and the island, on the MV Hebridean Isles.
The introduction of this freight only service to and from Troon will also free up additional deck capacity on MV Isle of Arran, which will continue to operate between Ardrossan and Brodick.
Businesses and hauliers are being contacted directly about using this temporary service, which will operate on weekdays, while the MV Hebridean Isles is currently unable to utilise Ardrossan, as a result of technical defect which currently precludes safe operation at that port.
All other customers will continue to use Ardrossan-Brodick and Claonaig-Lochranza, and are advised not to turn up at Troon - as they will not be able to travel on these sailings, due to a lack of passenger facilities.
Don McKillop, area operations manager for CalMac for Clyde, said: “These new, freight only sailings, are aimed at relieving pressure between Ardrossan and Brodick, by freeing up much-needed space for our other customers. This will be a temporary measure until MV Caledonian Isles is back from her scheduled annual overhaul.
“I must stress that the temporary Troon service is for commercial traffic only, it will not be carrying any passengers other than commercial vehicle drivers. We are contacting identified commercial customers to offer them spaces, including those with block bookings.
“This will relieve deck capacity between Ardrossan and Brodick and will allow the Tarbert-Portavadie route to resume, which had been cancelled to increase capacity on the Claonaig-Lochranza route.”
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