Found approximately seven miles south of Fort William, the Corran Ferry provides a lifeline connection and a shortcut across the Corran Narrows of Loch Linnhe. Connecting the Ardgour peninsula in the west with the wider Lochaber region in the east.
We are responsible for operating the Ferry service, which is the busiest single vessel route in Europe, taking just 5 minutes to make the approximately 400m crossing, and carrying approximately 270,000 cars and 11,000 commercial vehicles and buses per year.
Without the ferry service, road-based diversion can be up to 2 hours and involves navigating single track roads with limited access for the largest of commercial vehicles due to bridge height restrictions. The ferry service is therefore integral to the economic and social well-being of the peninsula and the wider areas.
Case for change
The Corran Ferry service is facing increasing operational challenges that urgently need to be addressed to ensure the reliability and sustainability of the service.
Vessels
The relief vessel, Maid of Glencoul, is 50 years old and urgently requires replacement. Ongoing reliability issues, combined with the growing difficulty and cost of sourcing spare parts, are placing the resilience of the service at risk. With a capacity for only 14 cars, the vessel cannot meet current demand, leading to significant queuing in the marshalling areas. It also has height and weight restrictions that prevent larger commercial vehicles from boarding vehicles that cannot use the alternative road route due to a low bridge.
The main vessel, MV Corran, is also approaching the end of its design life at 24 years old, further compounding the risk to service continuity.