MV Loch Seaforth (2014)

Berthed at Stornoway's No.3 pier, 21 February 2015.
Career (UK)
Name:	MV Loch Seaforth
Namesake:	Loch Seaforth
Owner:	Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd.
Operator:	Caledonian MacBrayne
Port of registry:	Glasgow
Route:	Stornoway-Ullapool
Ordered:	22 June 2012
Builder:	Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft MBH and Co KG, Flensburg, Germany
Cost:	£42 million
Yard number:	764
Launched:	21 March 2014
Christened:	by Mrs Joan Murray
In service:	16 February 2015
Identification:	IMO number: MMSI number: 235101635 Callsign: 2GYU4
General characteristics
Class and type:	Passenger
Tonnage:	7800
Length:	116 metres (381 ft)[1]
Beam:	18.4 metres (60 ft).[2]
Propulsion:	2 x Wärtsilä, 3 x auxiliary
Speed:	19.2 knots (22.1 mph; sea trials)
Capacity:	700 passengers, 143 cars

MV Loch Seaforth is the new Caledonian MacBrayne ferry operating the Stornoway to Ullapool crossing. She was launched on 21 March 2014 and entered service in mid-February 2015. She will replace the 1995-built MV Isle of Lewis as the main ferry on the route.

History

A replacement vessel for the Stornoway-Ullapool route was announced by Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP on 8 June 2012.^[3] Two weeks later on 22 June, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited announced that the contract to construct had been signed with Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft MBH and Co KG in Germany. The name, Loch Seaforth was chosen in a competition run by CMAL, reviving that of MacBrayne's 1947 Stornoway mailboat. Construction commenced on 16 September 2013 with the cutting of the first steel.

After the shed at the Flensburger shipyard suffered storm damage from the St. Jude storm, they announced that the Loch Seaforth's delivery was to be delayed by about two weeks as a result of repairs to the shed roof. The vessel was finally launched on 21 March 2014, and was christened by Mrs Joan Murray, the eldest daughter of the late Captain John Smith, who was master of the original 1947 mailboat.^[4] There are also concerns over the timetables for the new vessel. Despite being capable of 24-hour operation, it was thought that the Loch Seaforth would not carry out 24-hour sailings in summer. She replaced the current ferry on the route, the 1995-built MV Isle of Lewis, which will remain as a back-up vessel on the route until the summer of 2015.^[5][6]

Service

MV Loch Seaforth will be operated by Caledonian MacBrayne on the Stornoway to Ullapool route. She will be the main vessel, with the Isle of Lewis being held in reserve on the route until summer 2015. The Loch Seaforth departed Germany on her delivery voyage on 4 November 2014 and arrived in Greenock on 7 November 2014. After arrival, the ship commenced sea trials before going being laid up, owing to the unfinished piers at Stornoway and Ullapool. On 12 November 2014, she sailed to Ullapool to conduct berthing trials, which were successful and returned to the Clyde.^[7] On 6 December 2014, she sailed for the first time to carry out crew familiarisation tests at her new hometown of Stornoway, despite the terminal not yet ready to accommodate her, before returning to the Clyde once again.^[8]

After considerable delay, the new ship undertook berthing trials at her new pier at Stornoway on 4 February 2015. Her first commercial sailing was the overnight freight sailing on 10/11 February. An open day for public viewing of the vessel was held in Stornoway on 13 February, and she gave her first passenger sailing of the Minch the following day. She then entered public service on 16 February, initially on a 'phasing-in' basis, but full time, effectively relieving the Isle of Lewis, which was delayed in leaving drydock in Birkenhead during her annual overhaul. At present, the Loch Seaforth and MS Clipper Ranger are serving Stornoway.^[9][10] On 5 March, the Loch Seaforth developed a ventilation fan problem at Ullapool, leaving the Isle of Lewis to rescue stranded passengers and their vehicles and take them back to Stornoway, putting her new 'back up' status straight to the test.^[11]

Footnotes