NEW CAL MAC FERRY RECEIVES HYBRID MARINE AWARD

Caledonian MacBrayne achieved a second success in the space of three years when receiving the 2016 Electric and Hybrid Propulsion System award for the recently introduced passenger and car ferry Catriona at a presentation during the Electric and Hybrid Marine Awards event in Amsterdam.

The first vessel to be completed by the newly formed Ferguson Marine operation at Port Glasgow on the Clyde and costing £12.3 million, Catriona serves the Claonaig-Lochranza route linking the Isle of Arran with Kintyre. She follows sisterships Hallaig (Hybrid System award winner in 2013) and Lochinvar. They currently run from Sconser, Skye to Raasay and on the Mallaig-Armadale crossing.

Catriona can carry 150 passengers and 23 cars or two HGVs, and incorporates a low-carbon hybrid system of diesel electric and lithium battery power, with batteries charged using shore power while the vessel lies alongside overnight.

Erik Ostergaard, chairman of ferry owners CMAL, said: ‘We are very proud that the design and construction of this new class of ferry was carried out in Scotland’. RP