MV Lord of the Isles

MV Lord of the Isles is one of the larger Caledonian MacBrayne vessels and operates from Mallaig on the west of Scotland. Built in Port Glasgow, she is the most-travelled vessel in the CalMac fleet.

History
MV Lord of the Isles, affectionately known as LOTI, was launched on 7 March 1989 at Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow. Although based in Oban and Mallaig, she is able to berth and load traffic all over the Clyde and Hebridean Isles network.

Layout
At 85 m long, MV Lord of the Isles is one of the largest ships in the fleet, with an appearance broadly similar to MV Isle of Mull at the forward end and an aft end that resembles MV Hebridean Isles. The car deck, open at the stern, is capable of holding up to 56 cars and she has a vehicle hoist to allow loading at the older piers.

The passenger accommodation provides space for a maximum certificate complement of 506. It consists of lounges, a cafeteria, a bar and a shop on one deck, with an aft observation lounge on the deck above. She is the last vessel in the fleet to have sleeping accommodation for the longer passages.

Service
Entering service in 1989 on the Coll / Tiree and Barra / South Uist routes from Oban, Lord of the Isles combined two previous timetables. This freed up both Columba (1964) and Claymore (1978) and allowed a cascade to take place within the fleet. She remained at Oban for nine years, occasionally switching places with MV Isle of Mull on the Craignure crossing and relieving at Uig and Ardrossan.

In 1998, LOTI was replaced by MV Clansman and transferred to Mallaig, replacing the veteran MV Iona on the seasonal Skye service. During the winter months she returned to Oban in a relief role. From 2003 to 2016, LOTI returned to Oban, alongside Isle of Mull and Clansman, providing additional sailings on a range of routes. With seven islands appearing regularly in her routine, she is easily the most-travelled vessel in today's fleet. She has also served at Wemyss Bay over the May Day holiday weekend in 2004 and on the Ardrossan - Brodick route in 2012, while MV Caledonian Isles went for overhaul.

From 2013, Lord of the Isles ran a trial winter service between Mallaig and Lochboisdale. Over half of the scheduled trial sailings were cancelled due to adverse weather and tidal conditions. Despite the apparent lack of success, it was announced in September 2015 that LOTI would commence daily return sailings on the route from the summer timetable in 2016. Once again based in Mallaig rather than Oban, she also carried out extra sailings on the Armadale route alongside the 2016 season vessels, MV Lochinvar and MV Loch Bhrusda, which had replaced MV Coruisk. This vessel reshuffling was criticised for the reduced capacity and inadequate passenger accommodation of Lochinvar, with calls for MV Coruisk to return to Mallaig alongside Lord of the Isles.

Since the winter of 2016/17, Lord of the Isles started serving Oban from Lochboisdale on Mondays and Fridays, alongside her thrice-weekly sailings to Mallaig. On Mondays, from Oban she makes an afternoon return crossing to Colonsay, before returning to Lochboisdale in the evening.

From summer of 2017, Lord of the Isles was partnered with MV Loch Fyne on the Mallaig–Armadale ferry crossing; the previous smaller vessels were cascaded elsewhere in the CalMac network. This arrangement was expected to continue until the new MV Glen Sannox (2017) entered service on the Ardrossan-Brodick crossing in late 2021, partnering MV Caledonian Isles, however in summer 2022, following the acquisition of MV Loch Frisa for the Oban - Craignure service, Coruisk returned to the Mallaig - Armadale service alongside Loch Fyne. This allowed Lord of the Isles to operate a second return service between Lochboisdale and Mallaig on certain days.

In April and May 2021, Lord of the Isles combined the Lochboisdale and Castlebay services, while MV Isle of Lewis returned to the Stornoway - Ullapool service, with MV Loch Seaforth undergoing repairs to the port engine.

On 29th Jan 2023, Lord of the Isles caught fire at Oban Ferry Terminal due to a engine fire to the car deck.

In April 2024, Lord of the Isles relieved MV Finlaggan on the Kennacraig - Islay service alongside Hebridean Isles. Her roster at South Uist was covered by Isle of Mull.