BLUEMOMENT

... a truck owner and farmer who was waiting to board the ferry, said it was immediately obvious something was wrong as the vessel approached.
...

He said: "As I watched the ferry coming round the bend of the pier, she seemed to be going very fast. She just kept on coming and it was clear something was drastically wrong.
"Then she came to a dead stop. Someone said she was stuck in forward gear. You could hear the sound of the engine churning up the sea.
"They eventually managed to get her to stop and in reverse, but on the way back she hit the pier."

Further to our last message the marina will be closed in its current form for some considerable time. During some dredging works today, the marina has suffered catastrophic damage and is unusable. Visiting yachts will be turned away for their own safety and I would ask that you do not attend at all until further notice as we cannot accommodate you.

May I also repeat, no one based locally shall attend the marina without a member of the marina team being present and even then it needs to be very limited, as we need an engineering assessment on what remains of it. The gate code has been changed to ensure this happens - for your safety.

We will be working with our insurance company, the contractor and our customers in the coming hours to provide clarity and a way forward. I don't know more than that at this time but am happy to be contacted by those affected.

The actions that have caused this have been totally out of the hands of Lochmaddy Marina and I am choosing my words carefully here as you might imagine.

Our gratitude goes out to our visiting customers (two of whom had a terrible time today - I'm truly sorry for that) and also our commercial partners and we will do all we can to support them.

After two brutal years rebuilding the post covid marina, this is quite some setback, yet we are all immensely comforted by the fact that no-one was killed or maimed by this act. Further news will be posted as it becomes available, may I thank you all for your messages of support both here on Facebook and via text.

Lochmaddy Marina has been significantly damaged as a result of being hit by MV Hebrides this morning (see statement from CalMac posted earlier). These photographs by Holly Moffat-Hardy and Sif Nielsen illustrate the extent of the destruction.