MV Isle of Islay carries passengers for the first time

MV Isle of Islay, the newest ferry in the CalMac fleet, has carried passengers for the first time.

The vessel, which will provide a mainland link to the people of Islay and Jura, departed Port Askaig at 12.30pm on Tuesday 31 March.

Duncan Mackison, CalMac’s Chief Executive, said: “MV Isle of Islay’s first passenger sailing is a significant milestone for the people and businesses of Islay and Jura, who will now benefit from a significantly enhanced service thanks to a larger, more modern vessel on the route.

“This is the first step in what will be a full-on but exciting year where we expect to welcome MV Isle of Islay’s three sister vessels, driving a rapid modernisation of half of our major vessel fleet.

“When all four are in service, we will have a permanent resilience vessel in the major fleet that can be deployed during any outages. Given the critical situation we’ve been in this week, this will be transformative in terms of how well we can respond to unplanned disruption or delays to annual overhauls.”

Kevin Hobbs, CMAL Chief Executive, said: “It is a proud moment to see MV Isle of Islay carry passengers for the first time. Her entry to service is a clear demonstration of the progress being made to rejuvenate Scotland’s ferry fleet. Our focus is now on expediting the delivery of her three sister vessels, which will provide further flexibility and resilience across the west coast network.”

The new vessel has the capacity for up to 450 passengers and 100 cars, or 14 commercial vehicles. This boosts vehicle and freight capacity on the route by 40%, improving the overall resilience of the wider fleet.

MV Isle of Islay will be joined by her sister vessel, MV Loch Indaal, this summer. Two other identical vessels, MV Lochmor and MV Claymore, are expected to arrive in late 2026 and early 2027 respectively and will operate on the Little Minch between Skye, Harris and North Uist.