It's time to have a look at that most mysterious of companies, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd, CMAL for short. It's forever in the news but rarely, if ever, in a good light so that it is no wonder it hides itself away under a great number of bushels. To know a bit more about this shadowy organisation is very important for us here in the Western Isles and never more so than at a time such as this when ferry woes are forever making the headlines.
CMAL came into being on 01 October 2006 when its venerable predecessor, Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd, was split into two. The other part of Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd became CalMac Ferries Ltd and is the name that is synonymous here with Hebridean ferries. Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd is now a dormant company but with three Directors listed viz Heather Hamilton Ferguson, Kevin Peter Hobbs and Morag McNeill. We'll have a look at CalMac Ferries Ltd in the not-too-distant but CMAL it is for now.
By far the most worrying thing about CMAL is that it is 100% owned by The Scottish Ministers. While there have been quite a few dumplings of Scottish Ministers in governments past, there has been nothing as remotely brain-dead as this current crop of Nationalist Ministers. Such ownership is a bad omen in itself but, as always, we're getting carried away with ourselves. Back to where we were.
CMAL is based at Municipal Buildings, Port Glasgow. It has eight Directors and we'll look at each one in turn.
The Company Chairman is one Erik Ostergaard OBE who has been a Director at CMAL since 2006. Erik is a resident of Denmark where he is Chief Executive Officer of Danish Transport and Logistics, comprising some 2,100 Danish transport and logistics companies. His company spiel adds that 'in February 2020 Erik was entitled Honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), adding to his royal honours; in 2018, he was bestowed Knight's Cross 1st class of the Order of Dannebrog by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and in 2004, he was awarded a Knight's Cross'. Bloody hell, Erik, steady on man, you're making us dizzy with envy!!!
Next in the pecking order is the Chief Executive, Kevin Peter Hobbs. As you would expect, the company spiel also lauds Kevin's experience in the ferry industry and, especially, the freight ferry industry. Not a word about passenger ferries - it's freight, freight, freight, cargo, cargo, cargo, as if humans didn't exist in Kevin's little world.
After Kevin comes the Finance Director, Heather Hamilton Ferguson, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Heather's last post before CMAL was leading the 'financial strategy' of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow. What on earth is the 'financial strategy' of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow? Plain book-keeping, is it not?
Next we have James Anderson, a Chartered Engineer and Director of Vessels for CMAL. If those reports of vessels - breakdowns and yet-to-be-built - are anything to go by, we genuinely wonder what Jim's job actually entails. Just who has buggered up the Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and the even more controversial Hull 802, still hunkering down in a briefcase somewhere? Our point is .... just what, exactly, does the Director of Ferries do?
Last in line of the Executive Directors is one Ramsay Arthur Macleod Muirhead, Director of Port Infrastructure and Planning. He should head up to Uig in Skye pronto and get the whip out ready for those Council-appointed contractors who, sure as hell, will cause eternal problems for the proposed five-month-long renovation works at the terminal.
That leaves us with three Non-Executive Directors, viz, Paul William Croucher, a banker; Graeme Wood, a Marine Engineer; and Morag McNeill, an Edinburgh solicitor. Morag's qualifications for running a ferry company are by far the most interesting. She's had an astonishing 76 Company Director appointments over the years - and she's also Chairman of The Edinburgh Academy!
We wonder if any of those Directors of CMAL has ever sailed on a CalMac ferry to the Western Isles or even knows what a West Coast ferry looks like?
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