---
title: "HOA3 - Harbour Operating Agreement"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "CALEDONIAN MARITIME ASSETS LTD (UTILITY)"
published: "2025-10-09"
---

# HOA3 - Harbour Operating Agreement

Buyer: CALEDONIAN MARITIME ASSETS LTD (UTILITY)  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469

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## Summary

Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), located in Port Glasgow, UK, has completed the award of the Harbour Operating Agreement (HOA3) to CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL) as per the notice dated 9th October 2025. This agreement concerns the management and operation of harbours and marine facilities in the Clyde and Hebrides, under the CHFS3 ferry services contract awarded by Transport Scotland. The procurement was conducted through a limited award procedure without prior publication due to CFL's unique position as the existing ferry services operator. The contract, valued at £67.44 million, was signed on 23rd September 2025, and encompasses services within the ports and harbours of the specified operating areas UKM6 and UKM8.

This tender provides significant opportunities for economic operators involved in harbour and maritime services, particularly those with expertise in the integrated management of ferry and harbour operations. Businesses with a focus on maritime logistics, vessel operations, and harbour management in remote and rural locations would find this opportunity particularly advantageous for growth. Given CFL’s established role in ferry operations and harbour management, the tender underlines the importance of operational efficiency and workforce sharing, which may limit competitive entries but highlights the viability for collaborations or subcontracting arrangements within the operational remit of HOA3.

## Notice

This notice concerns the award of a harbour operating agreement, known as HOA3, by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL). CMAL is the statutory harbour authority at certain harbours and other marine facilities and is responsible for the operation, management, maintenance and improvement of them. CFL is due to be appointed by Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers as the operator of lifeline ferry services in the Clyde and Hebrides, under a ferry services contract known as CHFS3. Please refer to this notice published by Transport Scotland for further details: Notice ID: MAY529943. The CHFS3 services will call at the CMAL harbours. CMAL is awarding the HOA3 to CFL because it is the operator of CHFS3 and because of the need to have the same operator for both the ferry services and the harbour operations as explained in this notice.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

CMAL intends to award the HOA3 to CFL following the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call for competition under regulation 48 of the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016. Regulation 48(1)(c)(ii) is applicable in this case due to the unique position of CFL as the lifeline ferry services operator under CHFS3, due to which competition for HOA3 is absent for technical reasons. Both HOA3 and CHFS3 involve the performance of harbour based duties at CMAL harbours: The harbour operating duties include: assessing navigational safety in the harbour, vessels mooring operations, operating pier equipment, inspecting harbour assets and reporting on defects, management of navigation, collection of third party harbour charges, liaison with third party tenants and harbour users, housekeeping (including cleaning slipways, cleaning ladders, weed-killing, septic tank emptying, potable water testing), managing waste at the harbours (generated on the harbour and from vessels), dealing with dangerous goods in harbour areas, managing harbour user conflict, managing harbour health and safety including permits to work, and acting as the first point of contact to deal with harbour emergencies and security issues. These duties are allocated to CFL under HOA3. The harbour based ferry operations duties include: managing ferry bookings (including sale of tickets), checking-in customers, face-to-face dealings with ferry customers, marshalling ferry traffic and pedestrians and manging ferry disruptions. These duties are allocated to CFL under CHFS3. Currently, and historically, the harbour operating duties and the harbour based ferry operations duties have always been delivered by the same operator entity, with the same workforce deployed to perform all the duties. Under this arrangement, individual staff members perform dual roles covering both harbour operations and ferry operations. For the reasons explained below, this is the only reasonable and viable means of delivering the services. CFL is the current incumbent operator of both the harbour operations (under a HOA2 contract awarded by CMAL on 22 August 2016) and the lifeline ferry services (under a CHFS2 contract award by The Scottish Ministers on 22 August 2016).

### Procurement Information

See Additional information at VI.3

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT541099 |
| Notice type | OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 Oct 2025 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 12 May 2025 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £137,440,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | CALEDONIAN MARITIME ASSETS LTD (UTILITY) |
| Locality | PORT GLASGOW |
| Post town | Paisley |
| Postcode | PA14 5EQ |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM3 West Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM33 Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, and Renfrewshire |
| Local authority | Inverclyde |
| Electoral ward | Inverclyde East Central |
| Westminster constituency | Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West |
| Delivery location | TLM6 Highlands and Islands, TLM8 West Central Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | CALMAC FERRIES |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 63 - Supporting and auxiliary transport services; travel agencies services

### Codes

- 63721000 - Port and waterway operation services and associated services

## Release History

- 9 Oct 2025 at 00:00 - Award - OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT541099
- 12 May 2025 at 00:00 - Award - OJEU - F15 - Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY530084

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=MAY530084
  HOA3 - Harbour Operating Agreement - This notice concerns the award of a harbour operating agreement, known as HOA3, by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL). CMAL is the statutory harbour authority at certain harbours and other marine facilities and is responsible for the operation, management, maintenance and improvement of them. CFL is due to be appointed by Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers as the operator of lifeline ferry services in the Clyde and Hebrides, under a ferry services contract known as CHFS3. Please refer to this notice published by Transport Scotland for further details: Notice ID: MAY529943. The CHFS3 services will call at the CMAL harbours. CMAL is awarding the HOA3 to CFL because it is the operator of CHFS3 and because of the need to have the same operator for both the ferry services and the harbour operations as explained in this notice.
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=OCT541099
  HOA3 - Harbour Operating Agreement - This notice concerns the award of a harbour operating agreement, known as HOA3, by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL). CMAL is the statutory harbour authority at certain harbours and other marine facilities and is responsible for the operation, management, maintenance and improvement of them. CFL is due to be appointed by Transport Scotland on behalf of Scottish Ministers as the operator of lifeline ferry services in the Clyde and Hebrides, under a ferry services contract known as CHFS3. Please refer to this notice published by Transport Scotland for further details: Notice ID: MAY529943. The CHFS3 services will call at the CMAL harbours. CMAL is awarding the HOA3 to CFL because it is the operator of CHFS3 and because of the need to have the same operator for both the ferry services and the harbour operations as explained in this notice.

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.cmassets.co.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469
- https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/court-locations/greenock-sheriff-court-and-justice-of-the-peace-court

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000798469.json.