Reduced ferry fares has led to a huge increase on Caledonian MacBrayne’s routes, with the publicly owned company carrying more than five million passengers last year for the first time in 20 years.

But over 5,000 sailings were cancelled.

Fares on some routes have been reduced by up to 40 per cent since the road equivalent tariff (RET) was RET was introduced as a pilot on routes to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree in October 2008.

It has since been progressively introduced across the CalMac network from Kintyre and the Clyde in the south to Lewis in the north of the Outer Isles, with last year the first in which all areas benefitted.

CalMac carried a total of 5,055,827 passengers and 1,356,396 cars network-wide, to 428,801 more passengers than in 2015 and 186,695 more cars.

The busiest route overall continued to be Ardrossan in North Ayrshire to Brodick on the Isle of Arran, carrying 828,262 people and 202,843 cars in 2016 – a rise of 8.7 per cent and 6.84 per cent respectively.

The route is coveted by Associated British Ports (ABP) which wants to shift the mainland terminus from Ardrossan to its facility at the Port of Troon.

Two other Clyde routes had the next highest passenger totals with 738,549 (+7.49 per cent) on Largs to Isle of Cumbrae and 675,714 (+6.97 per cent) on the Wemyss Bay/Gourock to Rothesay

For cars, the Rothesay route was second with 172,897 (+19.12 per cent), with Oban to Craignure on the Isle of Mull showing a 40.66 per cent rise to 162,288 – this route was the fourth busiest for passengers carrying 644,827 (+16.14 per cent).

The highest increase on a 2015-2016 like-for-like route was a substantial 74.09 per cent rise in cars on the Tobermory to Kilchoan crossing and 52.26 and 52.33 per cent on both the Oban to Lismore and the Mallaig to the Small Isles runs respectively.

Minister for Transport and the Islands Humza Yousaf said:

“These figures underline the success of the full roll out of Road Equivalent Tariff on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry network, a key commitment from the Scottish Government. Cheaper fares bring benefits to locals, visitors and local businesses, making ferry travel more attractive and accessible, as well as providing a boost to the tourist trade.”

But last year there were also 5397 cancelled sailings or 3.9 per cent. Most were due to bad weather 3597 or 2.65 per cent, which was over 1000 fewer than the year before. However 1488 were due to technical reasons such as breakdowns, which was a significant increase on the 550 in 2015. Only 294 were due to other reasons 0.22 per cent.