Date change for refit of Corran ferry

The Highland Council has been working closely with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), and Calmac to re-arrange the timing of the annual refit of the MV Corran, which operates the ferry service across the Corran narrows in west Lochaber, providing a vital transport link to Ardgour, Morvern and the Ardnamurchan peninsula.  

The Council operates two vessels on this route, the MV Corran, the principal vessel, and MV Maid of Glencoul the reserve vessel.  

The change of date for the MV Corran refit is in response to representation made by the local community over concerns about possible traffic congestion at the crossing during the October school holidays.   

Chairman of The Highland Council’s Community Services Committee, Councillor Graham MacKenzie said: “We have listened to the local community and, with the agreement of MCA, I am pleased we are able to put in place measures to reschedule the MV Corran refit until the end of October.  This means we will no longer need to deploy the smaller relief vessel MV Maid of Glencoul over the busy school holiday period and the local community and visitors can benefit from an improvement to the service that has previously not been possible at this time of year.”  

Leader of Lochaber Area, Councillor Thomas MacLennan is pleased that local concerns had been acted on and the likelihood of long queues forming on either side of the crossing, especially those on the A82 side over the holiday period, has been reduced. He said: “Corran Ferry is the second busiest vehicular crossing in Scotland with over 250,000 vehicle trips per year and it plays a vital role in the social and economic activities of the whole area.  Anything we can do to minimise disruption to the service is good news so I am delighted that re-timing of the annual refit now means there will be greater capacity on the crossing in particular over the weekend of the 10-12 October when the Mull rally takes place.”  

The Corran Ferry operates a 7 days a week service from 6.30am to 21.30pm Monday to Saturday and from 8.30am to 21.30 on Sundays. The only days the ferry does not run are Christmas Day and Boxing Day and the 1st and 2nd January

ENDS