MV Muirneag has been on charter to CalMac for some years to operate the overnight freight service between Stornoway and Ullapool but with her safety certificate due to expire in October and her owners unwilling to spend the sums required to upgrade her to continue on the charter, Calmac have now chartered the Clipper Ranger to operate this service
 |
 |
 |
|
The Clipper Ranger was due to arrive at Stornoway at 1830 on 19.09.2013
Earlier that day, Muireag had vacated
her berth and moved to Arnish
|
Clipper Ranger arrived about
30 mins after her ETA
|
Clipper Ranger tied up at
No 3 Quay(ferry terminal)
and tested her ramps
|
 |
 |
 |
|
After trials at No 3 quay,
she moved across to No 1 quay
|
Trials at No 1 quay
|
The tide was exceptionally high and she was unable to lower her stern ramp to connect with the linkspan |
 |
 |
 |
|
By next morning she had moved to Arnish to allow the Muirneag to operate her normal overnight sailing.
The Clipper Ranger appeared to be a massive ship, much larger than the Muirneag, although perhaps this was exaggerated by the extremely high tide. She has a Turkish crew, and the word is that her master is a local man.
|
On Saturday 21.09 the Muirneag
arrived in Stornoway on her last crossing, passing the Clipper ranger as she entered the Harbour
|
She finally berthed at about 0930,
and the last load of
commercial traffic was unloaded
|
 |
 |
 |
| Muirneag unloading final traffic | Muirneag unloading final traffic | About an hour later her place had been taken by the Clipper Ranger, with the Muirneag moving off to Arnish |
 |
With thanks to Colin Tucker
for sending in the report
of the changeover at Stornoway |
|
| A nice view of some of the (Turkish) crew contemplating what is to be their new home for the next months. |
|
|
 |
||
|
Clipper Ranger & Discovery,
Mark Nicolson 10 June 2014
The Stornoway freight vessel & the visiting cruise ship at anchor off Stornoway
|
||