I am sure most of us are pleased CalMac retained the contract for West Coast ferry services (“Campaigners celebrate as CalMac wins new ferry deal”, The Herald, May 20) but what a wasteful and unnecessary exercise, as it has been proved the subsidy did not breach state aid rules.
We now need to embark on a 20-year programme to provide the Argyll and Western Isles with a modern ferry service. If you visit Norway you find a ferry system serving, even very small communities, with a shuttle service leaving every 30 to 60 minutes for 18 hours a day.
The summer service for Ullapool-Stornoway is only two crossings a day, which can often be fully booked at the weekends in the summer.
Or the Uig-Tarbet timetable with only one sailing on two days of the week. In the winter, several Scottish islands do not even have a daily ferry.
I suggest the Scottish Government sends the CalMac board, together with the Transport Minister and senior civil servants, to Norway to research and plan for a modern ferry service for Scotland.
Dr Michael Foxley, Former Leader, Highland Council, Achaphubuil, by Fort William.
The victory for CalMac did not come with the full support of the SNP Government which forced the contract to be put out to others which could have resulted in the loss of more jobs in Scotland.
Why does the east coast of Scotland have no passenger ferry service operating to Europe? The answer again lies with Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP who say EU rules prevent such a service being tendered for out of Scottish ports.
Travellers have to go to England to use such a ferry service. The public must be shown in detail the reasons why.
John Richardson, 29 Letham Rise, Dalgety Bay, Fife.
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