Over-due, over-budget MV Glen Rosa ferry finally launches: May its sailing career be happy and long – Scotsman comment

Surely new ferry cannot be hit by any more setbacks, eight years after work first began

Joyous news and a nation celebrates. Finally, after eight long years of struggle, the MV Glen Rosa has been launched on the Clyde! To the sound of the pipes – perhaps an unnecessary over-emphasising of the much-delayed and massively over-budget project’s Scottishness – the sparkling new ferry slid down into the water and did not promptly start sinking.

It is currently due to enter service next year, although given its sister ship, the Glen Sannox, was launched in 2017 – with its infamous painted-on windows – and is still not in carrying passengers, frustrated islanders would be ill-advised to hold their breath.

Will this be the last ship launched on the lower Clyde? The Scottish Government-owned yard’s workers await ministers’ decision on a contract for seven small ferries for CalMac, which unions say is vital for its future.

All that said, allowing a newly qualified welder, Beth Atkinson, to launch the ferry was a nice touch. Hopefully, as with the house in John Irving’s novel, The World According to Garp, it has been “pre-disastered” and its sailing career will be happy and long.

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