The Caledonian MacBrayne fleet is the largest fleet of car and passenger ferries in the United Kingdom, with 37 ferries in operation. A further five vessels are currently under construction for the fleet. The company provides lifeline services to 23 islands off the west coast of Scotland, as well as operating routes in the Firth of Clyde.
Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) vessels can be readily identified by their black hulls and white superstructures. They have red funnels with black caps that display the Lion Rampant badge with masts in buff. The fleet can be categorised into various groups. 33 of the vessels are owned by the asset holding company Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited which is in turn, like CalMac, wholly owned by the Scottish Government. Two ferries, and , are directly owned by Caledonian MacBrayne, and a further two, and , are on charter from other owners.
There are presently eleven monohull vessels over in length in the CalMac fleet:
, , , , , , , ,
, and . These vessels usually operate on the longer crossings, with higher passenger numbers.
, at in length is the largest vessel in the fleet, and operates on the Ullapool to Stornoway, Lewis crossing. The newest vessel in current service is , which entered service on 31 March 2026. She operates alongside to serve Islay and Colonsay from Kennacraig. has the highest passenger capacity and can carry 1000 people on the Ardrossan to Brodick, Arran crossing. crosses The Minch from Uig, Skye, while , and are based in Oban, serving Mull, Colonsay, Coll, Tiree and in the summer and for relief Barra. is based in Castlebay, serving Barra, sailing to Oban. is based in Lochboisdale, serving South Uist, sailing to Mallaig and Oban in the winter. is first of two new dual-fuel ferries built by Ferguson Marine Engineering, being handed over to CalMac on 21 November 2024 and entering service on the Troon-Brodick route on 12 January 2025. has been assisting with the Islay and Arran routes until further new vessels arrive, being effectively a spare vessel.
Isle of Islay is the first of four identical vessels which were ordered in two batches from Cemre Marin Endustri in Turkey. The remaining three ships are due to be delivered during 2026 and 2027. The remaining three vessels are named , , and .
(sister vessel to Glen Sannox), was launched on 12 March 2024 and is expected to delivered no earlier than October 2026. Completion of the two dual-fuel vessels has been delayed by over 6 years due to a variety of factors, sparking the "Scottish ferry fiasco", a series of political controversies that has arisen as a result of the severe delays.
The Loch class are a group of smaller vessels with a single car deck, running the length of the ship, with a ramp at each end. They vary in length from . Most are symmetrical when viewed from the side, with no operational bow or stern. Passenger accommodation is down one or both sides of the ship. This class is designed to be highly interchangeable depending on operational requirements and availability, however a few can only operate on a set route due to their design. Namely, , and , which were designed specifically for the route they operate on and also have a lounge above the car deck. They operate on shorter crossings, usually between 5 and 30 minutes, although , , and take 40, 60 and 55 minutes on their respective routes, Sound of Barra between Ardmhor and Eriskay, Sound of Harris between Berneray and Leverburgh, and Oban and Lismore.
The original four Loch class vessels were based on . At in length, they can carry 12 cars and 200 passengers. The largest and newest, , is and can carry 32 cars and 250 passengers. She was built for and has run on the Largs to Cumbrae route since 2007. A mere shorter, and were built for the Skye crossing. They were made redundant by the opening of the Skye Bridge and eventually found redeployment elsewhere after some time laid up.
Of similar design, but larger than the Loch class, was launched in 2012 for the Raasay service. She is powered by a hybrid combination of batteries and a small diesel engine - a world first for a sea-going RO-RO vessel. A second hybrid ferry, , was launched in May 2013 for the Tarbert to Portavadie route. The third hybrid ferry, , was launched on 11 December 2015 and entered service on the Claonaig to Lochranza route in September 2016.
In March 2025 a contract to build seven vessels to replace the Loch Class ferries was awarded to Remontowa Shipbuilding of Gdaà Âsk in Poland, with the first vessel expected to be delivered by 2027. The ferries will be 49.9m long and have the capacity for 24/25 cars and 150 passengers or 15/16 cars and 250 passengers, depending on the design and route they will be on. Designs for further ferries for routes that require longer journeys or have port or sea constraints are currently being developed.
(244 passengers) and the catamaran (250 passengers) are passenger-only ferries used on the Gourock - Dunoon service. The ferries, formerly operated by Argyll Ferries, were acquired when that company was incorporated into Caledonian MacBrayne in January 2019. Ali Cat, then owned by Solent and Wightline Cruises and chartered by CalMac from Red Funnel Line, entered service on the route in 2002. last served Dunoon on 29 June 2011, and was then scheduled to operate the summer relief on the Arran crossing. From 30 June 2011, the Gourock - Dunoon service was awarded on a passenger-only basis to the newly formed David MacBrayne Ltd subsidiary Argyll Ferries. Argyll Ferries purchased Ali Cat and a former Irish boat renamed to serve the route. Argyll Flyer was not available for the start of the passenger-only service due to prop shaft problems. The company leased the cruise boat from Clyde Cruises to start the service, but she was out of service with engine problems for most of the first day.
is a passenger-only vessel chartered from Clyde Marine Services to operate the Gourock to Kilcreggan service since 1 June 2020. She has the capacity for 80 passengers.
There are seven vessels in the fleet which cannot be listed in the above categories.
is a vessel used on the Kerrera service. She was built in 2017 by Malakoff Limited in Shetland. She is a bow loading vessel of similar design to the old Island Class vessels and can take twelve passengers and one car, although due to vehicle restrictions on Kerrera she rarely carries cars. She is the smallest vessel in the fleet.
is a "sheltered water vessel", operating on the Mallaig to Armadale route in summer, and relieving on the Clyde in winter. Her design allows her to make the crossing in reverse when sea conditions allow.
is a highly specialised ship serving the Small Isles of Eigg, Canna, Rùm and Muck from Mallaig. She is long, and has capacity for 190 passengers. Her vehicle deck can accommodate up to 14 cars, but is empty on most sailings due to the lack of roads and vehicle restrictions on the Small Isles. She is instead used mostly for goods and vital equipment for the islands. Lochnevis has a surprisingly large vehicle ramp, which dominates her appearance. This allows her to berth a considerable distance from slipways, protecting her exposed Azipod propulsion systems in shallow waters.
is a former Norled ferry bought by Caledonian MacBrayne in 2021. She was built in 2015 as Utne and operated for Norled for 6 years. She is a double-ender ferry with passenger capacity for 195, and capacity for 40 cars, or 4 HGVs. She measures long by metres wide. Following a naming competition, CMAL announced the vessel would be renamed MV Loch Frisa.
MV Alfred is a 84.5 m (277 ft) catamaran ferry chartered from Pentland Ferries. She can carry 98 cars and 430 passengers. She operated as the second summer vessel on the Ardrossan - Brodick route from May to September 2023. Berthing trials at Stornoway in October 2023 were unsuccessful and she underwent bow thruster repairs before returning to Arran, allowing MV Caledonian Isles to carry out berthing trials at Islay, Colonsay, Mull, Coll & Tiree. Her charter was extended by 6 months on 6 November 2023 to last until 21 August 2024. During November and December, due to a technical issue with MV Loch Portain, Alfred provided a service between Tarbert and Lochmaddy. She then partnered MV Isle of Arran on the Arran service during the overhaul of MV Caledonian Isles. In July 2024, it was announced that the charter had been extended for a further six months until March 2025. Her charter was extended again, on 26 February 2025, to the end of May 2025 due to the ongoing delays with MV Caledonian Isles. Pentland Ferries announced on 3 June 2025 that Alfred's charter had again been extended until the end of October 2025 for further fleet resilience.
The Wemyss Bay to Rothesay route is operated by two vessels, built in Poland, (delivered in spring 2005) and , which entered service in 2007. There was much controversy following the decision to award the shipbuilding contracts to yards outside Scotland. Their introduction into service was delayed by pier work to install an end-loading linkspan, allowing full ro-ro operation.
Notes:
There are currently four "major vessels" under construction for the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet, under two seperate contracts with yards in Scotland and Turkey. Two smaller ferries are also under construction in Poland as part of a single contract for 7 such vessels.
The second of the two dual-fuel ferries under construction by Ferguson Marine Engineering, , is expected to be delivered in April 2026 at the earliest.
Following the completion of Isle of Islay, three further vessel of the same design remain under construction at Cemre Shipyard in Turkey. First steel for the second vessel, , was cut in January 2023, whilst her keel was laid in May 2023. Although the original ã91 million contract with Cemre was for only these two vessels, in October 2022 it was announced that two further vessels would be built to a very similar specification for services to Tarbert and Lochmaddy from Uig and to provide additional resilience in the fleet. These two vessels are to be named and . Loch Indaal was originally expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2025, with Lochmor being completed in the third quarter of the year, and Claymore following by the end of the year. However, in February 2025 the shipyard announced delays, blaming the impact of the war in Ukraine on steel supplies, Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, the 2023 TurkeyâÂÂSyria earthquakes, a shortage of commissioning engineers, and snow and cold weather in Turkey. With Isle of Islay entering service on the Islay route on 31 March 2026, the expectation is that Loch Indaal willd be completed by the end of July 2026, with Lochmor being expected in October or November, and Claymore being completed by February 2027.
As the new major ferries come into service a number of ferries will be withdrawn, however one is expected to be retained as a "resilience vessel" to cover for breakdowns elsewhere in the fleet. was withdrawn from service on 17 November 2024. CalMac have indicated that and are next most likely vessels to be disposed of, however this initial assessment remains under review, and is subject to change.
The small vessel replacement project (SVRP) will see the replacement of the oldest of the Loch class vessels, in two phases over ten years. For Phase 1 of this project, in March 2025 a contract to build seven vessels was awarded to Remontowa Shipbuilding of Gdaà Âsk in Poland, the same shipyard that built MVs Argyle, Bute and Finlaggan. These are electric ferries, though may require to be run on diesel until shore power can be fully set up, with the first vessel expected in 2027. The first steel was cut for the first of these vessels, , in September 2025. Loch Awes keel was laid in December 2025, and steel was cut for the second vessel, MV Loch Etive.
Phase 2 of the SVRP will see the construction of vessels designed for the more exposed routes in the Outer Hebrides. Initial design and port feasibility studies for these vessels commenced in August 2024. On 3 March 2026 the Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced that 2 vessels would be ordered from Ferguson Marine via a direct award, without going out to tender.
For vessels in the fleet before the merger in 1973, see Caledonian Steam Packet Company and David MacBrayne.