The last of the CalMac River Clyde passenger/ vehicle ferries, the 899gt/1978 built Saturn, has won a reprieve having languished in lay-up at Rosneath on the Clyde since she was retired from the operational fleet in September 2011.

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited announced on 16th February that the sole surviving Streaker had been sold to Pentland Ferries for freight work and working with the renewable energy sector around Orkney and the Pentland Firth. Before withdrawal the Saturn had spent most of her 33 year CalMac career on the Wemyss Bay to Rothesay route.

The vessel is in possession of a Green Passport issued by Lloyd’s Register, which contains an inventory of the materials she is constructed from and the materials she has onboard as part of her outfit. Pentland Ferries will follow the DEFRA ship recycling strategy when the vessel is eventually disposed of.

Former sister ships, the Juno and the Jupiter, were recycled in 2011 under the UK ship recycling strategy, a DEFRA initiative, supported by the Scottish Government, which applies to all vessels above 500 gross tonnes that are owned by the UK Government and its agencies. The Juno was dismantled on the Clyde and the Jupiter was towed to Denmark to be broken up.