Caledonian MacBrayne (usually shortened to Cal-Mac) is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries between the mainland of Scotland and all major islands on Scotland's West coast.
History
The company, initially known as David Hutcheson & Co., began in 1851 as a private steamship operator, plying the Caledonian Canal and the Clyde estuary. With the retirement of its founders in the 1870s, their partner David MacBrayne gained full ownership, and changed the company's name accordingly. It remained in the hands of the MacBrayne family until it was nationalised in 1948, and thenceforth operated under the supervision of a variety of government departments (including, at one point, British Rail). Merger with another ferry operator, Caledonian Steam Packet Co., by now also state-owned, in 1973 created Caledonian MacBrayne. In 1990 the ferry business was spun off as a separate company (under the traditional Caledonian MacBrayne brand), but this company remains government property.
see http://www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/history_timeline.asp
Business
The company enjoys a de-facto monopoly on the shipment of freight and vehicles to the islands, and competes for passenger traffic only with number of aircraft service of varying quality and reliability. Nonetheless, few if any of the routes currently operated by Cal-Mac are profitable, and the company receives significant government subsidies due to its vital role in supplying the islands.
In reference to this monopoly, this witty famous poem was written:
- The Earth belongs unto the Lord
- And all that it contains
- Except the Clyde and Western Isles
- They belong to MacBrayne's
Routes
Islands currently served by Cal-Mac include:
External link
