Introduction

The Islands Connectivity Plan

1. The Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) will replace the Ferries Plan 2013-2022 but will be wider in scope, taking account of ferry services, aviation and fixed links, as well as onward and connecting travel. The ICP will be supported by a number of delivery plans.
2. The diagram below illustrates the components that make up the ICP. An overarching ICP document will provide guidance and direction to the delivery of island transport connectivity. It will set out how island transport connectivity aligns with the ambitions of the Scottish Government and contributes towards meeting Scottish Government objectives as set out in the National Islands Plan and the National Transport Strategy.
3. A suite of supporting documents, of which the Long Term Vessels and Ports Investment Plan is the first, will provide more detail on the Scottish Government’s objectives for the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) and Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS) which the Scottish Government is directly responsible for.
4. As shown below, the ICP will provide the foundations for developing the CHFS and NIFS contracts moving forward.

5. The CHFS and NIFS services play a key role in supporting the economic, social and cultural development of those remote and island communities. This document sets out the draft Long-Term Plan for the vessels and ports used by the CHFS and NIFS services and represents a key delivery plan for those services. This draft is being published now, in advance of other elements of the Islands Connectivity Plan, to make public the Government’s long-term plans, to invite comments on them, and to give confidence that investments are being planned and actions are being taken.

The Long Term Plan for Vessels and Ports

6. There are currently 40 vessels deployed on the CHFS and NIFS services: 35 on CHFS and 5 on NIFS; these are all owned by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) except for 3 passenger vessels serving Dunoon and Kilcreggan (the Gourock-Dunoon vessels are owned by CalMac’s parent company, David MacBrayne Ltd, and the Gourock-Kilcreggan vessel is owned by the previous route operator, Clyde Marine). Around half of the ports are owned by CMAL with the others owned by local authorities, trust ports and private companies – the the Annex for details.
7. Other ferry services in Scotland are the responsibility of local authorities and some others are operated commercially by private operators. Although not covered by this draft Long-Term Plan, local authority ferry fleets face similar challenges to those facing the CHFS and NIFS networks. Those local authorities have undertaken, or are undertaking, similar appraisal and planning work in support of their own investment cases.
8. The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan (IIP) (February 2021) stated that:

We will produce and maintain a long-term plan and investment programme for new ferries and development at ports to improve resilience, reliability, capacity, and accessibility, increase standardisation, and reduce emissions to meet the needs of island communities and give confidence on our ongoing commitment supported by investment of at least £580 million during the next five years [April 2021 to March 2026]"

9. Stakeholder feedback has indicated the priority of reliability of vessels and resilience of services. This draft Plan therefore focuses on improving reliability by replacing vessels and renewing port assets on the basis of age and condition and increasing resilience that modernisation and also through the size and flexibility of the different fleets.

 

10. This draft Plan sets out the “baseline scenario” needed to sustain services and communities and the required investment programme to deliver that. Delivery against this Plan will require decisions to be taken as part of annual budget reviews going forward. The draft Plan therefore proposes an objective and transparent approach to “Investment Prioritisation” that would guide those difficult prioritisation decisions.
11. Transport Scotland has developed this draft of the Plan in consultation with CMAL and the incumbent operators – CalMac Ferries Ltd (CFL) and Serco NorthLink Ltd (SNF) – and through engagement with a range of key stakeholders including local authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland (MACS) and the Ferries Community Board for CHFS.
12. This Long-Term Plan will be finalised in 2023 as part of the overall work on the ICP. This will enable it to be shaped in light of the outcomes of the refreshed needs assessments that we intend to undertake in 2022 and 2023 for each community served by CHFS and NIFS services. It will also enable it to be reviewed following the outcomes of the current Parliamentary inquiries by the Public Audit Committee and the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee and by the outcomes of a number of impact assessments. The final version of the Plan will set out the strategic business case for a sustained forward investment programme, supporting decision-makers when evaluating individual project and programme funding proposals.
13. The final Plan will, additionally, respond to identified community needs and feedback from both the CHFS and NIFS networks for improvements in, for example, the frequency and capacity of services, including where this could require new vessels in addition to those already scheduled for replacement due to age. This draft Plan proposes that the priority must be to sustain lifeline transport connectivity for all communities, but that opportunities continue to be taken to enhance transport connectivity to support the growth of island populations and economies.