Pride of the Clyde

The cherry red boats of the Western Ferries fleet are a much-loved feature of life on the western outskirts of Glasgow, plying their way back and forth across the Firth of Clyde like clockwork.

The four Cummins-powered boats – Sound of Scarba, Sound of Shuna, Sound of Seil and Sound of Soay – work what over the past 48 years has become Scotland’s busiest ferry route.

Western Ferries is a private company whose story began in the late 1960s when it pioneered high frequency roll-on roll-off (RORO) ferry operations in Scotland's West Highlands and Islands. Before its arrival on the scene, cars would have to be hoisted on and off.

After helping to transform life on some of the remoter communities, the directors of Western Ferries switched their attention to the Clyde, and with two former Swedish ferries they launched a route between Hunter’s Quay, just outside the town of Dunoon, and McInroy’s Point in Gourock in June 1973 – a crossing which spares a car journey of what would be around 90 minutes.

The route effectively links the busy central belt of Scotland with the region of Argyll and Bute and its many islands, including Bute, Jura, Mull and Islay, via the Cowal Peninsula. It is the only car ferry across the Clyde.

Each crossing – and there are around 32,000 of them each year - burns roughly the same amount of fuel as would be used by three or four cars driving round by road, so with a capacity of 40 cars (and 220 passengers) per crossing, Western Ferries is helping to remove thousands of tonnes of harmful emissions from the atmosphere each year.

The Western Ferries fleet provides a vital personal mobility connection for residents on either side of the Clyde and puts the Glasgow business centre within an hour from Dunoon, a pleasant commute made all the more enjoyable by the friendly crew.

You can get a good idea of the affection in which Western Ferries is held by its patrons by looking at the company’s Facebook page which is full of great pictures and warm comments.

Weather permitting, Western Ferries operates every day of the year, including Christmas Day, and maintains a regular but flexible timetable that allows it to respond quickly to demand. There are no advance bookings - you just turn up and go - and there are sailings from either terminal every 20 minutes throughout most of the day and every 15 minutes at peak times. The first sailing of the day is just after 6am and the last one is at midnight, or 1am at weekends.

"Reliability is everything to us, which is why Cummins Scotland has such an important role to play with our operations," said technical director Graeme Fletcher. "We aim to have all four of our boats ready to sail for eight months of the year, and for the other four months one of them will be undergoing scheduled service and maintenance."

Western Ferries likes to pay back into the community it serves and makes its ferries available for free emergency runs outside its normal operating hours.

"We've had our fair share of mothers in labour, and quite a few babies born during the crossing, which is why you'll come across a few Shunas and Sandas in the Dunoon area," said Graeme. (Sound of Sanda operated until 2013 and is now MV Loch Scavaig, a dive support vessel).

The modern Western Fleet runs entirely on Cummins propulsion power. Scarba and Shuna, both of which were designed and built at the Fergusons shipyard in Port Glasgow, entered service in 2001 and 2003 respectively. They are equipped with twin Cummins KTA19-M3 engines developing 600 hp at 1800 rpm and giving the ferries a top speed of over 12 knots.

Scarba was the first of the two vessels designed and built by the yard specifically for the route. The company ordered two more new ferries in 2012 from Cammell Laird of Birkenhead on Merseyside. Seil and Soay were delivered in October 2013 and are equipped with twin Cummins QSK19-M engines developing 600 hp at 1800 rpm.

They can also reach 12 knots. All four ferries use an azimuth thruster (Rolls-Royce Aquamaster) system for ease of manoeuvrability and time efficiency. It means the vessels can shuttle between terminals without the need to turn around, safely stopping within 25 metres.

“I’ve had a lot of experience in deep sea operations and have always heard good things about Cummins engines, so Cummins was top of our list when we were looking at our propulsion options for our first new-build vessels,” said Graeme, who started his career on oil tankers before switching to ferry operations around the British Isles and joining Western Ferries in 1999.

"Based on a decade of experience with Cummins Scotland, we had no hesitation returning to them when the next two vessels were being considered. We weren't looking for anything revolutionary: We loved the simplicity and robustness of the engines, the torque profile for our short journeys was ideal, and we were very happy with the fuel efficiency.

"We were very confident that the chosen Cummins propulsion package was efficiently matched with the hull design and that would help us to run as environmentally-friendly as possible. We incorporated LED lighting technology and enhanced heat recovery to further reduce our energy consumption."

Damien Scudder, technical manager of Western Ferries, said beyond the performance and reliability of the Cummins engines, the company had come to rely on outstanding service support from the Cummins team based in Cumbernauld, about an hour away. "It's a good, strong working relationship," said Damien, speaking to us from aboard Sound of Seil in dry dock where Cummins technicians were busy overhauling the vessel's QSK19 to keep it in optimum condition.

"We understand each other's business really well and our servicing is always done at the most expedient times. Our route may be short and the waters of the Clyde are pretty sheltered but the duty cycles are intense and it's vital to maintain a rigorous approach to maintenance."

This article is our cover story in The Cummins Magazine: