Cherry picking of Calmac routes

A Strathclyde University professor has warned that state owned ferry company Caledonian MacBrayne could still be vulnerable to cherry picking of its routes by competitors.

Professor Neil Kay said high value freight runs and busy short routes could be targeted.

Last autumn fears about the government funding of such lifeline services were rejected in an official inquiry.

In Professor Kay’s response to the inquiry’s decision he said that although some issues had be settled there were still problems.

He explained that commercial operators were unlikely to be interested in off-season, foot passenger and longer crossing services.

He commented: “Cherry picking is not automatically against the public interest especially if there can be competition amongst cherry pickers within a given market.”

But he warned that in markets served by CalMac competition between cherry pickers on a given route may be small, which may lead to a local monopoly.

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