MV Bute

MV Bute (Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Bhòid) is a ferry owned by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited and operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, on the route between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay on Bute.

For the 1954 ferry, see MV Bute (1954).

Sailing from Rothesay to Wemyss Bay, May 2019.
History
United Kingdom
Name: MV Bute
Owner: Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited
Operator: Caledonian MacBrayne
Port of registry: Glasgow, United Kingdom
Route: Wemyss Bay - Rothesay
Ordered: 22 March 2004
Builder: Remontowa, Poland
Cost: £8,500,000[1]
Yard number: 1333
Launched: 9 February 2005[2]
Christened:
  • 1 July 2005
  • by Mrs Marjorie Bulloch
Maiden voyage: 11 July 2005
Identification:
Status: in service
General characteristics
Class and type: Lloyds 100A1 RoRo passenger ferry with Class IV certificate[3]
Tonnage: 2,612 gt[4]
Length: 72 m (236 ft 3 in)[4]
Beam: 15.3 m (50 ft 2 in)
Draft: 5 m (16 ft 5 in)
Installed power: 2,660 kW (3,567 bhp) @1000 R.P.M. combined. 1,520 kW (2,038 bhp) from 8M20 and 1,140 kW (1,529 bhp) from 6M20.
Propulsion:

1x MAK 8M20 + 1x MAK 6M20 Engines Burning M.G.O.

Driving Schottel twin prop STP 12/12 and STP 10/10 through TwinDisc MCD slipping clutches.
Speed: 14 knots (16 mph; 26 km/h)
Capacity: 450 passengers, 60 cars
Crew: 12

History

She is the seventh Clyde ship to bear the name Bute and Calmac's first ferry built outside the UK since the MV Suilven in 1974. There was much dissent over the decision to order a new ferry from outside the UK.[1] Launched in Poland, she sailed for Scotland, arriving in Gourock on 28 June 2005. After successful berthing trials, she entered service on 11 July 2005.[5]

Layout

Bute has a semi-open car deck with a clearance height of 5.1 metres (16 feet 9 inches). Like the MV Coruisk before her, she has bow and stern access. In addition she has a starboard vehicle ramp aft, which was used at Rothesay before the pier was converted to allow end-loading.

Passenger accommodation is on two levels: the first housing forward and aft lounges with a kiosk area and toilets between, while the second level is open deck space from the twin funnels to just forward of the bridge. The bridge sits on its own perch above the open deck. A single lift connects the car deck with the lounge.

Bute has Azimuth thruster units with engine-driven propellers, by means of a cardan shaft, mounted on a steerable pod, protruding beneath the hull. These made her harder to position at piers than her predecessors with Voith Schneider Propellers and led to delays in the first season.[1]

Service
MV Bute diverted to Gourock pier during Storm Erik in 2019

Bute operates the route between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, along with her sister ship MV Argyle.

Being more manoeuvrable than the new vessels, the streakers MV Juno and MV Saturn returned to provide the service during work to build a new end-loading linkspan at Rothesay pier in 2007.[2]

While works were being carried out at Wemyss Bay pier, Bute and Argyle were temporarily relocated to Gourock in October 2015, making each crossing an hour long. Services resumed from Wemyss Bay in March 2016 after a £6 million pier upgrade was completed.[6]

Footnotes
  1. "MV Bute". Ships of Calmac. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  2. "MV Argyle". Ships of Calmac. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  3. "MV Bute Technical Details". Crew of MV Bute. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  4. "MV Bute". CalMac. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  5. "MV Bute website". MV Bute crew. 6 November 2015. Archived from the original on 14 September 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
  6. "Wemyss Bay Ferry Terminal". Caledonian Maritime Assets. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
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