Harbour Authority

CMAL is the Statutory Harbour Authority (SHA) and the owner of port infrastructure at 16 ports and harbours on the Firth of Clyde, islands of the Hebrides and locations on the West Coast of Scotland, and owns and leases a number of properties and port infrastructure at 10 other locations within these areas. All these sites are primarily associated with supporting the delivery of Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services, a lifeline to many Scottish island communities.

The ports, harbours and other marine facilities are operated in full compliance with the Port Marine Safety Code (the Code). Harbour authorities must have a ‘‘duty holder’’ who is accountable for their compliance with the Code and their performance in ensuring safe marine operations. Within CMAL, the role of duty holder is undertaken by members of the Board who are publicly accountable for marine safety under the Code. Harbour authorities also have powers to appoint a harbour master but the duty holder cannot assign or delegate its accountability for compliance with the Code.

Ports and harbours can be busy places and, by the very nature of their business activities, may be hazardous places in which to work. The Harbour Master has a key role to play ensuring that vessels navigating their waters, people living and working in or close to the location, employees, customers or visitors can go about their business safely. Unusually, while CMAL’s Harbour Master has responsibility for ensuring the safe navigation and use of all CMAL’s ports and harbours, the reponsibility for managing the day-to-day operation of all these locations, for assessing navigational risk, developing and implementing emergency plans and procedures, for regulating dangerous goods, for counter-pollution and waste disposal plans, is contracted to Calmac Ferries Limited with their staff using powers delegated from the CMAL harbour master to do so. The performance of CalMac’s port marine operations procedures are overseen by the Harbour Master to ensure they achieve compliance with the Code.

Harbour authorities must also appoint a “designated person” to provide independent assurance directly to the duty holder that the safety management system, for which the duty holder is responsible, is working effectively. Their main responsibility is to determine, through assessment and audit, the effectiveness of the safety management systems of both CMAL and CalMac working in harmony to achieve compliance with the Code.

CMAL has appointed ABPmer to this role.

For information on all CMAL owned ports click here.

Non-CMAL owned ports

The following ports are used by CMAL owned ferries but we are not the harbour authority for these ports. Please contact the harbour authority directly for any queries related to these locations.