Ministers ‘intend to return Ferguson Marine shipyard to private sector’

The yard has been at the centre of controversy over two delayed and overbudget CalMac ferries

The Scottish Government intends to return the troubled Ferguson Marine shipyard to the private sector, a senior SNP minister has confirmed.

Neil Gray, the Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Fair Work and Energy, said it was hoped the yard could become commercially successful again.

Ferguson Marine, in Port Glasgow, has been at the centre of controversy over the construction of two new CalMac ferries. The Glen Sannox and an unnamed sister vessel are substantially delayed and overbudget.

Picture: John Devlin

A report by Audit Scotland in March raised doubts over the long-term viability of the yard, which was nationalised in 2019.

Giving evidence to Holyrood’s economy and fair work committee, Mr Gray said: “Clearly there have been challenges at Ferguson. That is well documented.

"But we continue to work with the management and the workforce to ensure that the two vessels are delivered as quickly as possible and then there is the opportunity for Ferguson to bid for further work and to make itself commercially successful.”

Asked if it was the Government’s intention to return Ferguson to the private sector, he said: “Yes.”

Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson MSP said: “It was interesting that Neil Gray should have confirmed, in his answer to my question, that the SNP Government intends to return Ferguson Marine to the private sector. But he was much less specific on exactly how he hoped privatisation would happen.

“His admission that ‘there have been challenges’ is quite the understatement. The woeful and ongoing failure to deliver lifeline ferries makes the prospect of finding a buyer much harder.

“The SNP Government must now work with the yard to get it into a position where it can compete for other work and make it fit for sale. That is undoubtedly going to need even more public money so ministers should spell out how much more they are prepared to spend on the yard.”

Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: “The SNP Government is all over the place on nationalisation. It parades its virtues of public ownership one week then seeks to privatise the next. It is little wonder that the SNP want to distance themselves from the yard after the party's disastrous ferry building programmes. But the truth is that the SNP is to blame for the cost and time overruns, not the workers.”