THE Gourock-Kilcreggan ferry timetable is to be temporarily slashed in the new year due to Covid-related absences among Caledonian MacBrayne staff.

From Monday, January 3 until Saturday, January 22, there will be five return trips on the Gourock-Kilcreggan route from Monday-Friday, and just four on Saturdays.

That compares to 13 sailings on weekdays and 12 on Saturdays in the normal winter schedule.

Timetables are being reduced across CalMac's Clyde and Hebrides network as the company attempts to manage the rise in absence levels caused by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

A spokesperson said: “The recent rapid spread of Covid19 has resulted in many absences within our crew and port teams.

“As a result, and to give our customers a greater degree of certainty, we will operate an essential services temporary timetable across the network from January 3, 2022.”

The temporary timetable for the Kilcreggan service – which does not operate on Sundays – is as follows.

From Kilcreggan

Mon-Fri: 0704, 0750, 1319, 1702, 1748

Sat: 0914, 1319, 1702, 1748

From Gourock

Mon-Fri: 0641, 0727, 1256, 1618, 1725

Sat: 0850, 1256, 1618, 1725 

Earlier this week ScotRail announced that timetables on many of its routes would also be temporarily reduced as it attempts to manage rising Covid absence rates.

The Helensburgh train service is unaffected by the timetable changes, but for those travelling on the reduced Kilcreggan ferry service and looking to make a train connection at Gourock, the following weekday trains will be cancelled from January 4-28 inclusive: 

0827, 0906, 0925, 0955, 1155, 1355, 1727, 1826, 1925, Glasgow Central-Gourock

0625, 0811, 0954, 1054, 1254, 1424, 1454, 1524, 1549, 1724, 1824 Gourock-Glasgow Central