CLAIMS from ABP, the port owners of Troon, were again flawed and out of date.

They said in a press statement that there was ‘Further misery for Arran islanders as Ardrossan ferry cancellations soar again’.

In this statement this said that 298 sailings were cancelled for year to June 2016 and although this is the case, ABP failed to mention that 126 of the 298 cancelled sailings were due to technical issues with the ferry and not related to weather.

These are figures which were relayed to readers of the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald last year and showed that minimal cancellations could have been avoided.

130 of the ferries were cancelled due to weather above 35 knots which supporters of the Ardrossan campaign saying would also affect Troon with no proof to the contrary from the Troon campaign.

There is again the comparison with the loss-making and now defunct service from Troon to Larne but again ABP fail to mention that the Brodick to Ardrossan service runs almost six times as many as the former P&O service.

Stuart Cresswell, Manager of ABP’s Ports of Troon and Ayr, said: “These figures underline that not only is reliability currently poor at Ardrossan but it is getting worse. The arrival of the new, bigger vessels with greater windage that are now under construction, will only make cancellations rise still further.

But North Ayrshire Council’s leader has hit out at the claims calling them ‘wild’.

Cllr Joe Cullinane said: “These wild allegations show a level of desperation emerging in ABP’s fight to poach the ferry from Ardrossan to Troon.

“The cancellation figures quoted by ABP are nonsensical and conveniently fail to mention the Troon to Larne ferry only sailed once or twice a day for just four months in the summer, so missed all the winter weather.

“In addition, a huge proportion of the cancelled Arran sailings were due to technical issues with the ferry. They’re comparing apples with elephants.

“Their claim that the ferry had to seek ‘safe harbour’ in Troon in January is risible – it got stuck against the harbour wall at Troon by high winds and had to be towed off by a tug!

“In any event, CalMac have since confirmed the ferry was being taken to Troon for a repair – not for ‘safe harbour’ as claimed by ABP.

“The truth is that Ardrossan to Brodick offers the shortest, fastest and cheapest crossing to Arran and that the number of sailings for islanders and visitors would be cut by 20 per cent if it moved to Troon.

“The cost to the public purse of moving it would be £166.7 million over 30 years for a longer, slower and more expensive crossing.