CalMac ferries fiasco overshadows sorry Ardrossan harbour saga – Alastair Dalton

Glen Sannox may carry its first passengers within months but port upgrade is still years away

Speaking to Fiona Hyslop in her Scottish Parliament office last week about the outlook for CalMac passengers in the face of seemingly never ending delays and disruption, the transport secretary repeated the Scottish Government’s look-on-the-bright-side mantra that there’ll be six new major ferries in service by 2026.nt

She said Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa being completed by Port Glasgow shipyard Ferguson Marine, along with four vessels being built in Turkey, will make a “significant difference to the confidence people have in the ferry service”.

On the face of it, the ships’ arrival should mark a turning point in the fortunes of the Scottish Government-owned operator. Crucially, it will provide a spare vessel once again to cover breakdowns without causing a domino-like knock-on effect across its west coast network as ferries are swapped around.

An industry source said it could take more than five years to complete the Ardrossan harbour upgrade for larger ferries. (Photo by Peel Ports Group)

The former two, earmarked for Arran, will be the second biggest in CalMac’s fleet, each capable of carrying 852 passengers and 127 cars. The latter four, for Islay and the Skye-Harris-North Uist triangle, will be able to take 450 passengers and 100 cars.

It got me thinking as to whether the two new Arran ferries with their increased capacity could even threaten to swamp the island with visitors, a bit like on Skye, albeit without toll-free bridge access.

Then I remembered that what Ms Hyslop describes as “one of the most difficult periods” for passengers – as they await the long-delayed vessels’ arrival – won’t end when Glen Sannox finally enters service.

That’s because, unbelievably, on that momentous day, perhaps in October, more than six years’ late, it won’t steam into Ardrossan harbour for the crossing to Brodick because the harbour isn’t ready to take it. But it’s not just a case of the upgrading work not being finished. It hasn’t started either, and revised plans haven’t even been drawn up or agreed.

Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop said it was a "fair question" as to why the upgrade of Ardrossan harbour would not be complete in time for the hugely-delayed new ferries' arrival. (Photo by Lisa Ferguson/The Scotsman)

Even worse, the port is in such poor condition, there are restrictions on which ferries can operate there, and, to CalMac’s fury, they can’t use it at all in certain weather conditions.

As to how we got here, Ms Hyslop was quick to point out the harbour is owned by Peel Ports, which has blamed the delays on “endless tinkering”, and said previous ministers “could give you a better insight from what happened at the time”.

However, she agreed it was a “fair question” as to how on earth the massively-delayed ferries now faced being held up by an even later-running harbour upgrade.

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Glen Sannox is being completed in Greenock and due to delivered at the end of July before entering service about two months later. (Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman)

Ms Hyslop said: “I’m not even a year in the job [she became transport minister last June before being promoted in February]. I realised there are key, big issues that I need to try and address. Ardrossan harbour is one of them."

As to when the job will be complete, an industry source told me it could be five years or more. Ms Hyslop said she’ll see what the updated business plan for the project said.

So far, the huge bulk of Glen Sannox has overshadowed this sorry aspect of the ferry saga. But when the vessel starts operating the longer route from Troon, the spotlight will switch to Ardrossan and perhaps that will focus minds towards a speedy conclusion.