FLEET
HISTORIES - Loch Shira |
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The Fleet
Loch Shira
History |
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Ever since its inauguration back in 1972, the car
ferry service from Largs on the Ayrshire coast to Cumbrae Slip, to the north of
the island, has grown at a steady rate. Drive through operation had been
introduced in April 1977 when the now-thirty year old Isle of Cumbrae arrived on the scene. Since that time traffic levels continued to
grow and it was necessary to bring two vessels to the route on a full time
basis.
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Since 1998 the route has been maintained by the Loch Alainn and the smaller
Loch Riddon (except for one season when the smaller ship switched
placed with Loch Linnhe for the period of the summer timetable). Normal
routine has been for the larger ferry to operate the main roster, with the
smaller ship coming into service to assist at peak periods during the spring and
autumn, and providing a second service throughout the day during the high summer
periods.
With vehicle and passenger numbers continuing to grow, CalMac announced
in 2005 that a new ferry was to be built, and at the same time work would begin
on remodelling the pier at Largs. The contract to build the new £5.8m ferry was
awarded in November 2005 to Ferguson's of Port Glasgow and the design and
construction commenced soon after.
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Launch time at Ferguson's |
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With the new ship having a vehicle capacity similar to that of
Loch
Alainn, it came as no surprise to hear that her arrival would free up the
smaller ship for a move to the Western Isles. The plans for the new ferry
revealed what is essentially a cross between the 1991-built
Lochs Fyne
and Dunvegan and the 2003-built
Loch Portain. As well as
having the usual passenger lounge along the starboard side of the hull, like on
the 1991 ferries, the newbuild also incorporated a lounge area over the car deck
in a similar fashion to the Sound of Harris ship. The bridge was to be located
above this additional lounge in order to give the captain excellent all-round
views.
A feature which made a welcome return on this ship was the incorporation
of the tried and tested Voith Schneider propulsion units. The vessel plans
indicated that these would be diagonally opposite one another, as is on the
1986/7 Loch Class. This feature again provides excellent manoeuvring
ability. |
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Loading at Cumbrae Slip |
Construction took place during the spring and summer of 2006 and on 28th
September a press release went out, announcing the name of the newbuild to be
Loch
Shira, thus extending the Loch Class. Loch Shira is actually a small
arm of Loch Fyne, located immediately to the north of Inverary. At the head of
the loch lies an old arch bridge, once used by the A83 which now follows a wide
curved path a few yards further north.
A November date was originally scheduled for
Loch Shira to be
launched although this was subsequently put back to December. The company revealed
in a press statement that the launch would take place on Friday 8th December,
with Saturn in attendance. Fitting out then followed at a leisurely pace,
with the Loch Shira sitting at the Newark Quay, adjacent to the slipway
at Ferguson's and trials were undertaken in April 2007. A speed of just over 10
knots was recorded on the Skelmorlie measured mile and berthing trials at Largs
and Cumbrae then followed. |
Passing Loch Riddon in mid-channel |
Manoeuvring onto Largs slipway |
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The new ferry was eagerly anticipated and an open
day was laid on at Millport shortly before she finally entered service. 2nd June
was the big day and Loch Shira was pressed into service, partnering the
Loch Riddon. Her car deck is spacious enough to carry up to 36 cars
although in practice she would only 24, in 3 lanes of 8, with the middle lane of
cars spanning what would be lanes 2 and 3 on the Loch Alainn. This was
all due to a complaint made by a passenger on the Loch Alainn a couple of
years earlier, who couldn't open her door to go to the toilet (of course the
thought of simply waiting 10 minutes until disembarking was unthinkable!!)
Nevertheless there is the capacity to take an additional handful of cars
by employing a checkerboard layout in the central lane. |
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Loch Shira settled in very quickly on her
new run, although she did fall victim to technical teething troubles on a number
of occasions during her first summer and even required engineers from Germany to
come over to carry out repairs to her Voith units within 2 months of her
entering service, requiring the spare Loch Bhrusda to step in and carry
out relief sailings, but in general she has been a most welcome addition to the
Clyde fleet. |
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Text thanks to SoC Crew (C)
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LOCH
SHIRA |
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