CLANSMAN

The Arran car ferry CALEDONIAN ISLES has now been relieved on the Ardrossan-Brodick service for her annual overhaul by one of CalMac's other large vessels, and this year her replacement, as it has been for most years in the recent past, is the Western Isles ferry CLANSMAN. Her arrival on the Clyde has been greeted with two days of bad weather, and after taking over from CALEDONIAN ISLES, both yesterday afternoon and this morning the service was diverted to Gourock. This view shows CLANSMAN heading back down the Firth past Cloch Point on her way southward to Brodick. CLANSMAN was built at Appledore Shipyard in 1998, and spends most of the year working out of Oban on routes to Coll, Tiree, Barra and South Uist. During the winter months, she acts as relief ferry on other routes. She is 99 metres in length, and can carry up to 638 passengers and a maximum of 90 cars.