On November 02 2007 Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) announced the order of a new ferry for Islay, which had been placed with the Remontowa Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland. The delivery of the 89.90m long vehicle/passenger ferry is expected in spring, 2011. The vessel will be capable of 16.5 knots and designed to carry 550 passengers, up to 88 cars, as well as coaches and commercial vehicles. Since that time it has been quiet on the ferry front, something we can't say of the ferry pier front, but that's a different story. Today there is positive ferry news and I'm delighted to be the first (as far as I know) to present an artist impression of the new Islay Ferry. John Salton, Technical Superintendent of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd was kind enough to send me this beautiful image. Now all we have to do is wait for the new ferry to arrive, and to find out if and where it docks ;-)

Click on the image for a large version

Tag: ferry cmal calmac