MV Bute
| 300px MV Bute en route from Rothesay to Wemyss Bay | |
| Career (UK) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | MV Bute |
| Operator: | Caledonian MacBrayne |
| Port of registry: | Glasgow, United Kingdom |
| Ordered: | 22 March 2004 |
| Builder: | Remontowa Group in Gdańsk, Poland |
| Cost: | £8,500,000[1] |
| Yard number: | 1333 |
| Launched: | 9 February 2005[2] |
| Christened: |
1 July 2005 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 9319741 MMSI Number: 235025112 Callsign: MHPD8 |
| Status: | in service |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 2612 tonnes[3] |
| Length: | 72 m[4] |
| Beam: | 15.3 m |
| Draft: | 5 m |
| Speed: | 14 knots |
| Capacity: | 450 passengers, 60 cars |
MV Bute is a ferry operated by Caledonian MacBrayne, on the route between Wemyss Bay and Rothesay.
Contents
History
She is the seventh Clyde ship to bear the name Bute and Calmac's first ferry built outside the UK.. There was much dissent over the decision to order a new ferry from outside the UK.[5] Launched in Poland, she sailed for Scotland, arriving in Gourock on 28 June 2005. After trials, she entered service on 1 August 2005.[1]
Layout
MV Bute has a semi-open car deck with a clearance height of 5.1m. Like the MV Coruisk before her, she has bow and stern access. In addition she has a starboard vehicle ramp aft which allows operation from older piers without full roll-on/roll-off provision.
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 azipod units with electrically driven propellers 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.[5]
Service
MV 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]
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "MV Bute". Ships of Calmac.co.uk. http://www.shipsofcalmac.net/profile_bute1.asp. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "History of MV Argyle". Ships of Calmac.co.uk. http://www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/h_argyle.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
- ↑ Ian McCrorie. CalMac Ferries. Caledonian MacBrayne. ISBN 0950716677.
- ↑ "MV Bute". CalMac. http://www.calmac.co.uk/mv_bute.html. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "History of MV Bute". Ships of Calmac.co.uk. http://www.shipsofcalmac.co.uk/h_bute.asp. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
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