For a Gaelic version of this e-newsletter please click HERE
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Welcome to the latest CMAL e-newsletter of 2009, our eco-friendly way of keeping you up to date with the harbours, ports and ferries vital for Scotland's lifeline ferry services. We start this update with news of an exciting competition which we hope you will all enter, to help choose the name of the new ferry bound for Islay in 2011. We also look back on the Royal opening ceremony of Largs Pier last month, a day to remember. The CMAL team have been extremely busy on a wide variety of fronts including the Scottish Government Ferries Review, EU funded small ferries project, ground investigation works at Port Ellen and Kennacraig, completing the new pier at Largs, the new ship for the Islay route, planning future investment and maintenance amongst many others. We have also found time to speak at a number of seminars and conferences including the 1st Scottish Maritime Transport Conference and the Annual British Ports Association conference. All of us here at CMAL are certainly committed in delivering our mission to provide, safeguard and develop ferries and harbours!
Guy Platten, Managing Director, CMAL
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ISLAY FERRY COMPETITION
The new Islay ferry will be the first new ship to serve the route in 37 years and marks the first major investment in vessels since CMAL was created. The contract to build the new passenger and vehicle ferry to serve the Islay route was won by Remontowa yard in Gdansk, Poland at the end of 2007 as part of the £24.5M project. As work progresses CMAL staff will be attending equipment factory acceptance tests, dock trials and finally sea trials with the ferry scheduled to arrive in the spring of 2011. However the new ship needs a name and we want you, the public, to have your say. Following consultation, CMAL intend to offer the public a vote from four names:
To have your say, you can vote online at CMAL’s website www.cmassets.co.uk or alternatively entry forms are available at Port Ellen, Port Askaig or Kennacraig.
The vote begins at 10am on Monday 19th October and will close at midday on Monday 16th November. The winning name will be announced on St Andrew’s Day, Monday 30th November 2009.
Two lucky winners who vote for the most popular name will be chosen at random to be special guests at the ferry’s launch in Poland next year.
To enter, and for your vote to count, you must give us your name and address; all information details provided to CMAL will be treated in confidence and not disclosed to any other third party. Identifying information will only be kept as long as necessary and destroyed one week after the winning name is announced unless you indicate that you wish to receive future information updates from CMAL.
Good luck!
Please click HERE for KIDS’ ART COMPETITION – LET’S CRE8!
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LARGS PIER OFFICIALLY OPENED
Last month, HRH The Princess Royal officially re-opened the historic pier in the popular Ayrshire seaside town of Largs following CMAL’s £6M project to safeguard the future of the pier. HRH The Princess Royal was cheered by hundreds of locals from Largs and the Isle of Cumbrae as she arrived to perform the opening ceremony on the pier which was originally built in 1834. As Largs Boys Brigade Pipe Band played alongside, five year old Chloe Smith from Cumbrae Primary School presented HRH The Princess Royal with a small bouquet of flowers. Children from all the local schools; Brisbane Primary School, Cumbrae Primary School, St Mary’s Primary School and Kelburn Primary School, were invited as special guests to mark the occasion following community involvement throughout the project which started on site last October. The new pier will provide shelter to the slipway, and overnight berthing for both the MV Loch Shira and MV Loch Riddon, the ferries operating on the route to the Isle of Cumbrae, as well as provide improved facilities for local fishermen and other pier users. The project was funded by CMAL with 75 percent of costs being met by the Scottish Government as part of its commitment to lifeline ferry services throughout Scotland. Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson said: "The Scottish Government has invested £4 million in this project, demonstrating our commitment to improving lifeline ferry services. This is a pier for the future, which will deliver a real economic boost for the local community, providing shelter to the slipway, berthing for local services and provide improved facilities for local fishermen and other pier users.”
CMAL Chairman, Grenville Johnston, said: "We are grateful to the Princess Royal for joining us to mark this special occasion; the first major infrastructure project completed by CMAL since its creation. We are also thankful to the people of Largs and Cumbrae who now have a pier fit for the future, safeguarding the vital contribution it makes to the local economy.”
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2009 CMAL ANNUAL REPORT
The CMAL Annual Report & Accounts to 31st March 2009 was published and laid before the Scottish Parliament on 1st October 2009. As well as our eco-friendly e-newsletters, this is our first annual report to be truly green. Rather than issue printed copies of this year’s annual report and accounts, we have decided to publish an electronic version on the web with an option for users to print a text only edition straight from the web. A cost-efficient way to help the planet! Please click HERE for a link to this year’s annual report on our website.
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SMALL FERRIES PROJECT
The Small Ferries Project team has held a one day conference in Brussels, aimed at raising awareness of the project, which aims to develop a strategic plan for a new fleet of small vessels to serve remote and island communities off the Scottish and Irish coastlines. “Ferries for the Future: New models for financing and designing small lifeline ferries” took place on Tuesday 29th September with conference topics including ‘Small Ferries: Financing Solutions through Cross-border Collaboration?', ‘The Social and Economic Importance of Lifeline Ferry Services’ and Low Carbon Ferries: A Vision for the Future'. The future of Lifeline Ferry Services was also discussed with guest speakers including Ronald Vopel , Marine Policy at the European Commission; Pelin Zhou, Professor of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at Strathclyde University and Ko Ko Naing of Stena AB. Log onto the Small Ferries Project website www.smallferriesproject.com for more information.
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HARBOUR DUES
After listening to feedback from the public, we have introduced a new short stay charge as part of our Harbour Dues payment system for pleasure crafts. Those berthing for a short stay visit at a port or harbour for a maximum of four hours between 0800 and 1800 will be subject to a nominal charge of £5.00, irrespective of length of vessel. Remember a range of season tickets, monthly, six-monthly, or annually, are now available to purchase online for both fishing and pleasure crafts. Passes offered include a berthing only annual pass for fishing vessels, or a range of composite season tickets, for both fishing and pleasure crafts, which include berthing, passenger/crew dues, fish landing dues and water dues.
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MORE GREEN PASSPORTS
More of our ferries have been awarded Green Passports in the last few months. As well as the MV Canna, MV Raasay, Jupiter and Saturn have also been certified. A Green Passport is a certificate that is awarded to a vessel by a Classification Society and will soon become mandatory. For this certificate to be issued, a database of all the materials the vessel is constructed from has to be submitted to the Society then a surveyor will inspect the ferry. The passport allows any hazardous materials to be identified to enable recycling when the vessel is scrapped. The scheme is being rolled out across all our ferries as part of a five year programme.
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PORT ELLEN & KENNACRAIG
Ground investigation works have been taking place in Port Ellen and Kennacraig since the beginning of the summer. Most recently, locals and visitors to Port Ellen will have seen a large Uniflote barge near the port. Further marine boreholes have also been undertaken from a jack-up barge, generally located to the north of the existing pier. This work was timed to avoid disruption to ferry services or barley deliveries at the pier. Similar marine ground investigations took place in Kennacraig in June.In the next few weeks, work will begin the re-construction of the existing fish quay wall at Port Ellen, which is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2010.
By laying the ground work now for any potential infrastructure improvements at Port Ellen and Kennacraig, this will ensure the project can begin as soon as possible should funding become available. Detailed design work is also continuing for both projects and the process for Harbour Revision Orders will begin shortly.
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This e-newsletter is also available to view in Gaelic, please click HERE
For the very latest news from CMAL please visit our website www.cmassets.co.uk