David MacBrayne Limited (DML) is parent company to the largest ferry company in the UK, CalMac Ferries Ltd. The group also has two human resource subsidiaries that support the business, David MacBrayne HR (UK) Ltd and Caledonian MacBrayne Crewing (Guernsey) Ltd. A publicly-owned private company, the Scottish Government is DML's sole shareholder.
David MacBrayne Limited has 170 years of history with DML being one of Scotland's longest continually running businesses. The roots of the company stretch back to 1851 with the formation of the steamer company David Hutcheson & Co. of which David MacBrayne was a partner.
In 1969 the Caledonian Steam Packet Company Ltd, operating Clyde services, and David MacBrayne, operating Western Isles services, became subsidiaries of the state-owned Scottish Transport Group.In 1973, the Caledonian Steam Packet Company Ltd. was renamed Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. and took over responsibility for both the Clyde and Western Isles ferry operations.
In 1990, the ownership of Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd. was transferred to the Secretary of State for Scotland (now the Scottish Government).
The dormant David MacBrayne Ltd name was reactivated in 2006.