Residents issue urgent plea for new Craignure ferry terminal on Mull 'as quick as possible'

An appeal has been made for quicker progress on the new Craignure ferry terminal – and for a second linkspan to be added to the proposal.

A report in advance of a meeting reported that the projected cost of the new terminal had almost doubled since 2020 due to inflationary costs.

Joe Reade, of the Mull and Iona ferry committee, addressed councillors with his concerns. He described the need for the new terminal as “absolutely critical.”

He made his presentation at a meeting of the Argyll and Bute harbour board on Thursday, September 11.

“We need the pier as quickly as possible, and I know that is shared by everybody on the council,” Mr Reade said.

“It is not necessarily the age of the pier, but the size of the vessels trying to use it. Calmac vessels are getting bigger and the pier we have is simply not suitable.

“We want it desperately and are already six years behind in delivery. It should have been completed in time for the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa coming into service in 2019.

“It is an important consideration that this pier should be designed for any Calmac vessel to berth, and be able to load and unload vehicles.

“We will need two linkspans, and unless things have changed recently, I think the plan is for one, which is not fully adequate. If you have a three-vessel service, you will not be able to timetable as flexibly as you need to.

“To give reliability we cannot rely on the mechanical service of only one linkspan. A second would give more weather resilience.”

He added: “We also need berthing space for two vessels, as there will be times when only one vessel is operating late at night. It will have Oban and Craignure available while the others need somewhere to tie up so that they do not get in the way.

“We really feel it is absolutely critical, and an important point of principle might be that a ferry pier is for the operation of our lifeline ferry service, over any recreational vessel.”