IrishPassenger Only Ferry Hopes?

[4th gen Suthen']

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/54275.html

Just for your interest folks.

[elaine]

Local firm ready to run car ferry service

DAVID ROSS January 18 2006

A local firm stands ready to reinstate a car ferry between Scotland and Northern Ireland for the £1m subsidy offered by ministers.
Last week the transport minister announced that the Scottish Executive had received no tenders from prospective operators for the route between Campbeltown and Ballycastle.
A former senior policeman with the Metropolitan Police wants to run a passenger-only service, but community and business leaders believe a car ferry is the key to Kintyre's economic recovery.
Now Dalriada Shipping says it has an arrangement to charter the vessel which plied the route for three seasons from 1997, and has the expertise and experience to make it a success. It wants to open discussions with the Scottish Executive with a view to starting the service as soon as possible.
James Robertson, a former employee of both Caledonian MacBrayne and Western Ferries, is one of those behind Dalriada Shipping.
He explained he and his associates had become involved late in the day, "formed a company Dalriada Shipping, two hours before the deadline and applied to the Scottish Executive by e-mail. But we were turned down because we didn't have a lot of the information required by the executive... But we actually anticipated that none of the four firms invited to tender, would in the end tender. We had been doing a lot of research."
He said the main players in Kintyre had considerable experience of running ferries and shipping.