Issue - meetings

Western Ferries

Captain McLundie highlighted that additional sailings were provided for the Cowal Gathering weekend; spare vessels were used when the Old Military Road and Rest and Be Thankful was recently closed; there were issues with extremely low tides at Hunters Quay a few weeks ago with delays of around an hour for 3 days and that they have been waiting on a license to dredge the area and would hope that once the license is granted that they can deepen the linkspan to limit the risk of future events.

The Chair recorded his thanks to Western Ferries for the service provided.

Kerris Bone advised that Steve Abbott from Heartstart had asked about the possibility of having defibrillators on board Western Ferries. Captain McLundie advised that defibrillators are in both terminals and that all staff have been through training and although there is none on board, they could get to terminals within 6 minutes. Captain McLundie advised that he would be more than happy to discuss this with Mr Abbott .

David Clough highlighted the significantly different prices for a 5 metre vehicle compared to a 7 metre vehicle travelling on Western Ferries. Gordon Ross advised that the way these vehicles are charged has been consistent for many years and that a table of rates is available from sales staff.

Councillor Sinclair highlighted that it is concerning when there is weather incidents that it has a massive effect on Western Ferries and moving forward with the construction of the debris flow shelter on the Rest and Be Thankful it will increase the demand of the service. Gordon Ross highlighted that he has a meeting with the Roads Department and Haulers to discuss what can be done during the construction phase on the A83.

Outcome

The Forum noted the update from Western Ferries.