GLEN SANNOX

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

New ferry suffered issue with bow door

On Jan 18, the 'Glen Sannox', serving on the route Troon-Brodick, suffered an issue with a blown fuse which affected the bow doors. The issue has since been resolved, but sailings for the rest of the day remained subject to delay and liable to disruption or cancellation’. As a consequence, the scheduled departure from Brodick at 08:40 a,m, was delayed by more than one hour, while the 10.50 a.m. sailing from Troon was also delayed, leaving the mainland at 11.25 a.m. instead. The timetable was expected to return to normal by the end of the day.

Ferry entered service despite oil contamination in hydraulic system

Last minute snags on the 'Glen Sannox' meant that one of its decks remained closed on its official launch on Jan 13. The long-awaited vessel was one of two major ferries being constructed at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow. CalMac was still dealing with a small number of issues onte ferry, including oil contamination in a hydraulic system which has forced the closure of a mezzanine deck. The closure did not affect capacity because of low demand over the winter period. Originally due for delivery in 2018, the ferry and the 3,000-tonne sister ship 'Glen Rosa' were first ordered in 2015 and have endured a saga of costly delays and technical problems. The 'Glen Sanno'x will serve Arran and operate from Troon, South Ayrshire, with the Caledonian Isles ferry forming the other part of a two-vessel service to the island from Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, from March 28.

Trial runs delayed

Planned passenger trial runs of the 'Glen Sannox' have been delayed because of remedial work needing done. The operator CalMac had hoped to run trial sailings this week ahead of it coming into service on Jan 13, but hope that could still happen and was working towards it, but it has cancelled other trials originally scheduled to take place this week, including a media preview that was set to sail on Jan 7. The sewage system on board the ferry needs remedial work’ while a number of other technical issues have also been identified, including those related to the electronics installed in the vessel’s bridge. The majority of the issues were identified between handover of the vessel and the start of the festive holidays, with the holiday period having a negative impact on the availability of external contractors for technical support.