MV Loch Ranza is a Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited owns the ferries, ports, harbours and infrastructure for the ferry services serving the west coast of Scotland and the Clyde Estuary.CMAL is wholly owned by the Scottish Government, with Scottish Ministers as sole shareholders.-History:Until...

 ro-ro car ferry, operated by Caledonian MacBrayne

Caledonian MacBrayne

Caledonian MacBrayne is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west coast...

, serving the island of Gigha

Gigha

The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...

.

History

MV Loch Ranza was the last of four drive-through ferries built in the 1980s by Dunston’s of Hessle

Richard Dunston (shipbuilder)

Richard Dunston was a shipbuilder on the Humber. The company started building wooden barges miles from the sea and evolved to pioneer fully welded steel ships of a single design...

, to cope with increasing traffic on CalMac's smaller routes.

Layout

The four vessels were based on the design of . They had a second passenger lounge, on the port side, reducing the capacity of the car deck.

Service

MV Loch Ranza replaced on the Lochranza

Lochranza

Lochranza is a village located on the Isle of Arran in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. The population, somewhat in decline, is around 200 people....

 – Claonaig

Claonaig

Claonaig is a small village on the east coast of the Kintyre peninsula in western Scotland, linked to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran by ferry .From Claonaig, Tarbert is 10 miles away via the minor B8001 road and the A83...

 crossing in April 1987. After only 5 years, she was replaced by the larger . Loch Ranza moved to the Tayinloan

Tayinloan

Tayinloan is a village situated on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The village has a sub post office and general store, a small hotel , a village hall and a play park. The nearest towns are Campbeltown and Tarbert .A ferry service runs between the village...

 – Gigha

Gigha

The Isle of Gigha is a small island off the west coast of Kintyre in Scotland. The island forms part of Argyll and Bute and has a population of about 150 people, many of whom speak Scottish Gaelic. The climate is mild with higher than average sunshine hours and the soils are fertile.Gigha has a...

crossing in July 1992, where she has remained since.