Exclusive:Will Turkish-built CalMac ferries Isle of Islay and Loch Indaal be completed before Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa at Ferguson Marine?

New images show progress on vessels that were ordered more than six years after those still incomplete in Port Glasgow

New pictures shows the construction progress of two CalMac ferries due to be both completed in Turkey in little over a year – despite being ordered six-and-half years after the massively-delayed Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, which are still being built on the Clyde.

The images of Isle of Islay and Loch Indaal taken last week have been issued to islanders on Islay, which the vessels will serve, in the latest update from Scottish Government ferry ordering firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal).

Isle of Islay is due to be finished at the Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in October and its sister vessel Loch Indaal in February 2025, having been ordered by Cmal in February 2022.

Loch Indaal under construction at the Cemre shipyard in Turkey last week. (Photo by Cmal)

By contrast, completion dates for the previous two large CalMac ferries, ordered by Cmal from Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow, remain uncertain.

Although larger and featuring a novel dual fuel diesel-liquefied natural gas propulsion system, Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa were ordered in August 2015 and have suffered a series of major delays and cost-overruns which have been blamed on two previous managements of the yard.

Inside Glen Sannox as hugely-delayed CalMac ferry nears completion at Ferguson Marine

In the latest setback, signalled by Ferguson Marine days before Christmas, chief executive David Tydeman warned that both vessels’ completion dates could slip another two months – from Glen Sannox’s in March this year and Glen Rosa’s in May 2025. It was met with “extreme concern” from Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray.

Loch Indaal, left, and Isle of Islay under construction at the Cemre shipyard in Turkey last week. (Photo by Cmal)

If the latter vessel is not finished until July next year, it will just a month short of a decade since the ferries were ordered. That compares to three years for the Turkish ferries.

Cmal said Isle of Islay – which is still officially known as hull 1092 ahead of its launch – was now watertight and capable of being launched, which is expected shortly.

It said Loch Indaal – hull 1093 – was not as advanced, with its bridge in place but the bow section still needing to be fully welded and consolidated. It is named after a sea loch on Islay, with both names chosen following a public vote last year.

The ferries will carry up to 450 passengers and 100 cars or 14 commercial vehicles, compared to 852 passengers on the Ferguson Marine ferries, which are being built for the main Arran route to Brodick.

Glen Rosa clad in scaffolding with Glen Sannox moored behind, at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow on Friday January 5. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

A further two ferries of the same type as the Islay vessels are being built at the Turkish yard for the Skye-Harris-North Uist route, to be delivered in June and October 2025.

The Scottish Conservatives said that with the latest delays to the Ferguson Marine ferries, the Islay vessels might even be carrying passengers before them.

Transport spokesperson Graham Simpson said: “While it’s great news that the construction of these ferries is progressing so well, it’s also a damning indictment of the SNP Government’s mishandling of the vessels being built here.

“And with the recent news of further delays to the Glen Sannox, it’s actually possible the Turkish ferries will be in service before the ones we should have had operating six years ago.”