owned industry transport founded 1851 founder david macbrayne headquarters gourock scotland area served river clyde outer hebrides inner hebrides key people martin dorchester ceo services ferries owner scottish government parent david macbrayne ltd website www.calmac.co.uk the funnel of mv juno caledonian macbrayne scottish gaelic caledonian mac a bhriuthainn usually shortened to calmac is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries and ferry services between the mainland of scotland and 22 of the major islands on scotland s west coast . since 2006 the company s official name has been calmac ferries ltd although it still operates as caledonian macbrayne . in 2006 it also became a subsidiary of holding company david macbrayne ltd which is owned by the scottish government . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 david macbrayne 1.2 caledonian steam packet company 1.3 caledonian macbrayne 1.4 restructuring 2 business 3 routes 3.1 other vessels 3.2 passenger numbers 4 current fleet 5 references 5.1 notes 5.2 bibliography 6 external links history edit the caledonian macbrayne headquarters building at gourock pierhead and a visit from mv caledonian isles and mv isle of mull david macbrayne edit main article david macbrayne ltd macbrayne s initially known as david hutcheson & co. began in 1851 as a private steamship operator when g. and j. burns operators of the largest of the clyde fleets decided to concentrate on coastal and transatlantic services and handed control of their river and highland steamers to a new company in which hutcheson their manager of these services became senior partner . their main route went from glasgow down the firth of clyde through the crinan canal to oban and fort william and on through the caledonian canal to inverness . david hutcheson was married to margaret dawson who was born at her parents home bonnytoun house in linlithgow . she was the sister of adam dawson who owned the st. magdalene whisky distillery in linlithgow and sister to james dawson who were also born at bonnytoun house . in 2011 glasgow historian robert pool added over 200 letters and documents to his collection relating to david hutcheson and the dawson family . 2 with the retirement of the founders of david hutcheson & co in the 1870s their partner and nephew of messrs. burns david macbrayne gained full ownership and changed the company s name accordingly . it remained in the hands of the macbrayne family until 1928 when unable to carry on it was acquired jointly by the london midland and scottish railway and coast lines . its ships featured red funnels with a black top . caledonian steam packet company edit main article caledonian steam packet company the caledonian railway at first used the services of various early private operators of clyde steamers then began operating steamers on its own account on 1 january 1889 to compete better with the north british railway and the glasgow and south western railway . it extended its line to bypass the g & sw prince s pier at greenock and continue on to the fishing village of gourock where they had purchased the harbour . after years of fierce competition between all the fleets the caledonian and g & sw were merged in 1923 into the london midland and scottish railway lms and their fleets were amalgamated into the caledonian steam packet company . their funnels were painted yellow with a black top . at the same time the north british railway fleet became part of the london and north eastern railway which built the ps waverley in 1947 . with nationalisation in 1948 the lms and lner fleets were amalgamated under british railways with the name clyde shipping services . in 1957 a reorganisation restored the csp name and in 1965 a red lion was added to each side of the black topped yellow funnels . the headquarters remained at gourock pierhead . at the end of december 1968 management of the csp passed to the scottish transport group which gained control of macbrayne s the following june . the macbrayne service from gourock to ardrishaig ended on 30 september 1969 leaving the clyde entirely to the csp . caledonian macbrayne edit mv jupiter leaving dunoon mv caledonian isles at gourock on 1 january 1973 the caledonian steam packet co. acquired most of the ships and routes of macbrayne s and commenced joint clyde and west highland operations under the new name of caledonian macbrayne with a combined headquarters at gourock . funnels were now painted red with a black top and a yellow circle at the side of the funnel featuring the red caledonian lion . in 1974 a new car ferry service from gourock to dunoon was introduced with the ferries mv jupiter and mv juno . in 1990 the ferry business was spun off as a separate company keeping the caledonian macbrayne brand and shares were issued in the company . all shares were owned by the state first in the person of the secretary of state for scotland and after devolution by the scottish government . a joint venture between caledonian macbrayne and the royal bank of scotland named northlink orkney and shetland ferries won the tender for the subsidised northern isles services previously run by p & o scottish ferries commencing in 2002 . the ambitious programme ran into financial difficulties and the service was again put out to tender . caledonian macbrayne won this tender and formed a separate company called northlink ferries limited which began operating the northern isles ferry service on 6 july 2006 . 3 on 29 may 2012 northlink ferries ltd lost the contract for provision of the northern isles ferry services to serco . 4 restructuring edit to meet the requirements of european union community guidelines on state aid to maritime transport note a relevant opt out clause for lifeline services known as the teckal exemption exists but was not exercised the company s routes were put out to open tender . to enable competitive bidding on an equal basis caledonian macbrayne was split into two separate companies on 1 october 2006 . caledonian maritime assets limited cmal retained ownership of calmac vessels and infrastructure including harbours while calmac ferries ltd submitted tenders to be the ferry operator . their bid for the main bundle clyde and hebrides ferry services succeeded and on 1 october 2007 calmac ferries ltd began operating these services on a six year contract . the gourock to dunoon service was the subject of a separate tender but no formal bids were made . in an interim arrangement calmac ferries ltd continued to provide a subsidised service on this route 3 5 until 29 june 2011 when argyll ferries ltd took over the service . on 14 july 2009 it was announced that calmac would begin controversial sunday sailings to stornoway on the isle of lewis from sunday 19 july . these have historically faced strong opposition from strong sabbatarian elements in the lewis community particularly the lord s day observance society and the free church of scotland . however calmac states that eu equality legislation makes it unlawful to refuse a service to the whole community because of the religious beliefs of a part of it . 6 business edit the company enjoys a de facto monopoly on the shipment of freight and vehicles to the islands and competes for passenger traffic with number of aircraft services of varying quality and reliability . nonetheless few if any of the routes currently operated by calmac are profitable and the company receives significant government subsidies due to its vital role in supplying the islands these routes are classified as lifeline services . in 1996 calmac opened its first route outside scotland winning a ten year contract to provide a lifeline service to rathlin island in northern ireland . this service continued until 2008 when calmac lost the tender . 7 various versions of a local poem based loosely on psalm 24 refer to macbrayne s long dominance of hebridean sailings the earth belongs unto the lord and all that it contains except the kyles and the western isles and they are all macbrayne s several groups have proposed privatising the service and there has been a long commercial and political struggle with a privately owned company western ferries which has run a rival unsubsidised service from gourock to hunters quay near dunoon since 1973 . in 2005 the scottish executive put the collective hebrides routes out to competitive tender with the dunoon route being a separate tender . 8 some island and union groups opposed the tendering process fearing it would lead to cuts in services and could be a prelude to full privatisation . during the tendering period the company of david macbrayne ltd. which had been legally dormant for many years was re activated on 4 july 2006 . david macbrayne group ltd. acquired the full share capital of northlink ferries ltd and took over operations of the northlink routes on 6 july 2006 . three operators submitted bids for the block of routes 9 with calmac retaining all its existing routes . during september 2006 david macbrayne group ltd. acquired the entire share capital of calmac ferries ltd. thus from leaving the hands of david macbrayne 78 years earlier in 1928 the west coast ferry service returned to the fold in 2006 vastly enlarged . at the time no bids were made for the separate gourock dunoon route and the service continued as before . in august 2006 david macbrayne group ltd. directed two of its subsidiary companies cowal ferries ltd. and rathlin ferries ltd. to take over operation of the gourock to dunoon and rathlin to ballycastle services . following a european commission decision to not subsidise a passenger and vehicle service the route was again put out to tender . in may 2011 argyll ferries ltd a newly formed subsidiary of david macbrayne was named as the preferred bidder for a passenger only dunoon gourock service . the timetable was extended into the early hours over weekends with additional sailings integrated with rail services . two passenger only ferries mv ali cat and mv argyll flyer ex banrion chonomara were arranged for the run . 10 when the service began on 30 june 2011 preparation of the argyll flyer was incomplete and as an interim measure the cruise boat mv clyde clipper was leased from clyde cruises . 11 routes edit map of ferry services in scotland calmac services shown in red mv saturn satharn in gaelic arrives at gourock mv hebridean isles at scrabster mv isle of mull leaving oban harbour with kerrera in the background between and crossing voyage time regular vessel s tarbert kintyre peninsula portavadie cowal loch fyne 25 minutes mv isle of cumbrae wemyss bay inverclyde rothesay isle of bute firth of clyde 35 minutes mvs argyle & bute colintraive cowal rhubodach northern bute kyles of bute 5 minutes mv loch dunvegan largs north ayrshire cumbrae slip isle of cumbrae firth of clyde 10 minutes mvs loch shira & loch riddon ardrossan north ayrshire brodick isle of arran firth of clyde 55 minutes mvs caledonian isles & isle of arran ardrossan campbeltown kintyre summer only service firth of clyde 2 hours 40 minutes mv isle of arran claonaig eastern kintyre peninsula summer only service lochranza isle of arran kilbrannan sound 30 minutes mv catriona tarbert kintyre peninsula winter only service lochranza isle of arran kilbrannan sound 1 hour 25 minutes mv lochinvar tayinloan western kintyre ardminish isle of gigha sound of gigha 20 minutes mv loch ranza kennacraig western kintyre port ellen southern islay via west loch tarbert argyll 2 hours 20 minutes mvs finlaggan & hebridean isles kennacraig port askaig eastern islay sound of islay 2 hours 5 minutes port askaig scalasaig isle of colonsay 1 hour 10 minutes oban scalasaig colonsay 2 hours 20 minutes mvs isle of mull & clansman oban craignure isle of mull firth of lorne 46 minutes