FLEET HISTORIES Main The Fleet Loch Shira History 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. 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. 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 will again provide excellent manoeuvring ability. 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. Loch Shira entered service in late May 2007 and settled in very quickly, allowing the Loch Alainn to move to Gourock as standby before sailing for Eriskay in early July. Text Thanks To Ships of CalMac © GO BACK TO LOCH SHIRA

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