BERTHING trials carried out between Brodick and Troon by MV Ben-My-Chree have been 'unsuccessful'.

The Isle of Arran Ferry Committee shared the announcement on Thursday, October 31, having been provided with an update by CalMac.

The ferry operator says that it is still awaiting a full report on the trials, however, bosses are looking to provide early confirmation to concerned communities.

The update read: "Whilst the vessel berthed successfully at Brodick, we were at the very edge of the limits it was safe to operate to, and we’d be relying on completely benign conditions to berth.

"The vessel will head back to the Isle of Man. We will continue to explore any and all options to add resilience and capacity to the fleet. That includes looking for third-party charters, as we always do, though it is a very challenging market.

"The intention behind looking at MV Ben-My-Chree was to add resilience to the fleet, and were the trials successful we would have had the ability to redeploy the fleet and add capacity to both the Arran service and other parts of the network.

"However, there is no immediate negative impact on the network because of these trials not working out. The current deployment plan, which is in place until Friday, November 15, remains unchanged."