"PEEL, Peel, do the deal" was the cry as campaigners led a demonstration outside the Glasgow headquarters of Ardrossan Harbour's owners.
Well, one of the cries, at least.
The noisy protest in front of the Clydeport HQ on Thursday morning, close to the River Clyde in the city centre, was certainly heard far and wide.
And it quickly led Peel Ports to respond by blaming the Scottish Government and the negotiators from Clyde Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) for the delays in a deal being made in the bid to take the harbour into public ownership.
A spokesperson said that Peel's "pace, energy and commitment haven’t been matched by those at the negotiating table".
There was plenty of national media coverage for the protest, which urged Peel Ports to sell the harbour to the Scottish Government as soon as possible.
That will allow a long-awaited upgrade of the facility to begin – and bring a full-time ferry service to Arran back to Ardrossan.
Campaigners said businesses and communities on the island and the mainland had been suffering badly as a result of years of inaction. Apart from a brief week in the summer, it has been almost nine months since a ferry service left Ardrossan for Brodick.
The harbour protest was joined by members of the Inchgreen campaign, who are trying to save the Greenock dry dock, which they claim has been run down by owners Peel Ports.
A few months back, the Ardrossan and Arran campaigners headed to Edinburgh for a protest outside the Scottish Parliament.
On a scorching day in the capital, they urged the SNP Government to speed up the talks with Peel and bring the harbour back into public ownership.
On that day, they won support from Labour, Green and Lib Dem politicians as well as trade unions as they gathered outside the building – and were then invited inside to meet Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop and local MSP Kenneth Gibson.
The chants included "Peel Ports – their profits, our losses. Save Ardrossan Harbour", "What do we want? Public ownership" and "Shame, shame".
There was also a brief cry of "Peel, Peel, do the deal or we'll make you squeal..."
Save Ardrossan Harbour's Frances Gilmour said: "Peel Ports and the Government need to listen to us.
"Ardrossan is suffering, Arran is suffering and we need to make our voices heard. Let's see some action happen."
Supporters of the Save Inchgreen Dry Dock campaign were equally vocal.
"Communities on the west of Scotland are far too abstract and distant from the centre of Edinburgh. It is far too easy to pour money into Ferguson Marine and say 'don't worry about it, the ships will come some day'.
"It is far too easy to say just hand money and control to Peel Ports and don't worry about it because it won't cost us at the ballot box.
"There's an election next year and I think it is time our voices are heard."
A spokesperson for Peel Ports Clydeport said: "We respect the right of protesters to make their views known in a way that is peaceful, safe and law-abiding.
"Peel Ports Group have repeatedly fought for a solution for the people and businesses of Arran and Ardrossan and we fully appreciate the scale of the disruption that the ongoing cancellations and delays to this critical service have caused.
"We’ve entered sale negotiations in good faith, working with pace and energy to a timetable we believed was achievable.
"Unfortunately, that pace, energy and commitment haven’t been matched by those at the negotiating table.
"We appreciate that the buyers have other ferry issues to contend with but reaching a swift conclusion will require them to give this negotiation a higher priority.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson responded: "This government is fully committed to Ardrossan serving the Arran route and to investing in the harbour to ensure that the service is fit for the future.
“CMAL, as our ferries and ports asset owner, continue to engage constructively with Peel Ports Group on the potential change of ownership.
"This involves legally complex and commercially sensitive work which will take time.
“All parties are acting in good faith in these negotiations and we will update parliament and the local community on significant progress at an appropriate time.”
