Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) has commenced work on a £6 million harbour investment programme to reconstruct the slipways at Colintraive and Rhubodach and create a larger vehicle queuing area at Colintraive.

Raynesway Ltd, the contractor appointed by CMAL to complete the project, began work on-site week commencing 5th June. So far, the contractor has established a construction site compound in the field adjacent to the terminal, where topsoil has been stripped and a hardstanding area has been built. Work will now begin to build a temporary slipway at Colintraive.

CMAL and Raynesway Ltd will implement a phased construction project plan to allow the ferry service to continue to operate to timetable, minimising the impact on ferry users. While the temporary slipway is being built at Colintraive, a new slipway will be built to the north at Rhubodach. The ferry service will then switch to operate between these two slipways to allow replacement of the Colintraive slipway and demolition of the old Rhubodach slipway. Finally, the temporary slipway will be removed at Colintraive and the vehicle queuing area completed. The project is scheduled to complete in summer 2018.

In a recent development as part of project planning, Raynesway Ltd has secured additional land which means ferry traffic will not need to queue on the main road during construction work. Instead, traffic will queue across from the ferry terminal.

Liam Browne, Project Manager, Raynesway Ltd said:

“To queue traffic on the main road would have required the installation of temporary traffic lights running from September 2017 through to April 2018. Utilising our experience in delivering local civil engineering projects, we have secured additional land to implement a longer term traffic management system, removing significant inconvenience for the local Colintraive community and ferry users alike.

“We’re delighted to be on-site to get this project underway and look forward to working with CMAL to deliver these fantastic new facilities over the next year.”

Ruairidh Campbell, Senior Civil Engineer at CMAL said:

“It’s great to see this vital project get underway to replace the existing slipways, which have reached the end of their life. The new slipways will provide islanders with a more resilient ferry service, offering increased flexibility around tide levels.

“This project is part of our ongoing programme of harbour upgrades and modifications across our network to provide safe and efficient lifeline ferry services to communities around Scotland.”


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