Guy Platten, CEO of Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited [CMAL], is leaving to join the UK Chamber of Shipping as its CEO, after six years leading CMAL since the Scottish Government-owned asset holding company was launched.
The Scottish Government’s response to EU legislation around state subsidies and competition, led it to break up the former Caledonian MacBraye company, transferring its assets – essentially the boats, piers and harbours for the Scottish west coast ferry services – into a new company, CMAL
This meant that CMAL was seen to be able to lease those assets to any company, not just CalMac, which might win a contract for Clyde and Hebridean ferry services.
CalMac – also owned by the Scottish Government – then became simply a ferry operator, competing for contracts, leasing its boats from CMAL and paying appropriate harbour and berthing dues to that company.
Mr Platten’s service with CMAL, from its inception, would always have had its frictions with CalMac, as that company got used to the strangeness of not owning its own boats, piers and harbours – and having to negotiate over them with a newbie public sector operation.
A naturally difficult relationship was compounded when, bizarrely, CMAL gave inexplicable support to an Irish bidder competing with CalMac in a tender to run the Ballycastle to Rathlin Island ferry, where CalMac was the incumbent operator.
The Irish bidder, Ciaran ODriscoll, with a business performance record known to be erratic, had no boat to suspport his bid to operate the service. This was, of course a central weakness in his case. For some inexplicable reason, CMAL took it upon itself to offer him assistance in trying to find a boat – and in the end they leased him the MV Canna, the boat with which CalMac had delivered the service.
This incident, which we reported within the wider tale of a tender process that requires a fully independent investigation it will never be given, created the spectacle of one maritime business owned by the Scottish Government proactively shafting a fellow maritime company also owned by the Scottish Government.
Anyone who imagines that the public sector is a civilised and serene business environment is living in a land shaped by the birds who steal other birds’ nests and kick out their eggs.
Mr Platten has proved a trusted and obedient servant of the Scottish Government throughout his leadership of CMAL, for which he was praised and thanked by Grenville Johnston, chair at CMAL who, in wishing him well in his next appointment, said: ‘The board and all the staff at CMAL would like to thank Guy for his hard work and commitment over the past six years. We are sad to see him leaving.
‘Guy’s contribution to the organisation has been immeasurable, leading us from our beginnings to the strong, solid position we are now in.’
It is interesting for those concerned about the future of west coast ferry services to note – and for CalMac to note – that under Mr Platten’s leadership, CMAL spent a year from 2011-12, having a menu of separate contracts drawn up for the unbundled services it might be called upon to supply to allcomers winning west coast ferry route contracts. These contracts include, as a separate matter, the Caledonian MacBrayne branding, leaving open the adoption of this branding should other potential operators bring in their own ships.
During his term of office, Mr Platten presided over the commissioning and launch on the Clyde in December 2012 of the world’s first ever sea going roll-on roll-off diesel electric passenger and vehicle hybrid ferry, followed by its sister vessel in May this year, 2013. Sadly, he will not be in the CEO’s position for the entry into service of these ferries – one destined for the Tarbert-Portaadie route in Argyll. A series of problems, not yet fully resolved, have delayed their going into service – said to be coming before the end of 2013.
Mr Platten also commissioned a replacement £42 million ferry to serve the Stornoway to Ullapool route, alongside significant investments in harbour infrastructure at a number of ports, including Largs and Port Ellen.
These matters too were, in practice, less secure management decisions than their verbal description might indicate.
The new ferry for the Stornoway-Ullapool route saw Transport Minister, Keith Brown MSP, receive a delegation from the Stornoway Port Authority to Edinburgh to express local concerns about the planned new ferry.
Fifteen years ago CalMac was manoevered into running a two-boat service on this route, with a daily vehicle and passenger ferry and a nightly freight boat. Islanders had long campaigned for the latter in order to get fresh food products to central belt markets by 8am and get back to Ullapool in time to get back to Stornoway.
These two boats share a linkspan at Ullapool but each have their own linkspans at Stornoway, which are not mutually compatible.
This means that the £42 million cost of the ferry is extended by the substantial cost of revision to one linkspan at Stornoway – raising secondary concerns amongst the islanders.
Their fear is that should anything go wrong with either linkspan at which the new ferry, the Loch Seaforth, will dock at Stornoway or Ullapool – and malfunction or damage to a linkspan is not uncommon – the service would be in serious trouble.
No other port in the Western Isles is capable of receiving the Loch Seaforth; and if it was the mainland linkspan at Ullapool that went down, the ferry would have to travel all the way to the Clyde to unload.
The philosophy of the composition of the west coast fleet is achieving the best possible degree of interchangeability between vessels and ports, to allow for cover in the case of technical breakdown and for scheduled cover during maintenance docking and refits.
This is oddly out of kilter with the specification of the Loch Seaforth.
There have been other CMAL glitches but it would be churlish to add a focus on them at the point of departure of a manager who has fulfilled the demands of his job to the gratitude of his employers and the respect of his colleagues.
Grenville Johnston has said that: ‘The search for a new chief executive at CMAL will begin immediately and I am confident CMAL will continue to grow to develop and enhance the infrastructure required to serve Scotland’s communities with vital ferry services.’
Guy Platten himself is quoted as saying: ‘It has been a privilege to lead the team at CMAL and help establish the organisation as a key player in the delivery of vital, lifeline ferry and port infrastructure in Scotland. I know I leave behind a talented and highly capable group of individuals, who will continue to strengthen CMAL’s role.’
He is to leave CMAL in early 2014, until which time he will continue as the company’s CEO.
The Loch Seaforth is due to be delivered in the summer of 2014 and to go into service on the Ullapool Stornoway route shortly after that.
