CalMac Ardrossan ferry services to the Isle of Arran cancelled after engine breakage and harbour wall crash

Ten ferry crossings to the Isle of Arran were removed from service on Tuesday as engineers tried to fix a broken engine.

The cancellations left just one vessel operating on the main route from Ardrossan, with ferry operator CalMac encouraging visitors to board by foot where possible.

Providing an update to the disruption on their website, CalMac said: “We are currently working on a repair plan which will require MV Caledonian Isles to move to an alternative port. A further update will be provided when available.

“We would encourage customers to travel as foot passengers where possible.”

Sailings at 7am, 9.45am, 12.30pm, 3.20pm and 6pm from Ardrossan and those at 8.20am, 11.05am, 1.55pm, 4.40pm and 7.20pm from Brodick were cancelled.

It comes after the Caledonian Isles vessel hit a harbour wall on Sunday after it’s port engine shut down.

CalMac has now launched a full investigation into the incident and has assigned the MV Catriona to operate as a shuttle service until the disruption is cleared.

VisitArran called the situation “frustrating” and urged the ferry operator to provide more services.

Sheila Gilmour of VisitArran said: “We’re looking for some resilience within the CalMac fleet, in terms of bringing other vessels in.

“There is no doubt that it is frustrating.

“We’re hoping this is a short-term situation and everything will be back up and running within the next few days and finished by the end of the week.”

A spokesperson for CalMac told STV News: “It’s one of these things that’s happened. It’s a failure of the engine and I don’t think it could have been planned for.

“At this point in time until that’s investigated of course we don’t know the full issue there.

“But we do recognise the impact it has, especially on an Easter weekend where we know how busy the service is and I can only apologise for the disruption that this loss of the vessel has caused.”