Scottish ferries scandal: New ferries contract worth £115m to be awarded by end of the year in significant acceleration of vessel replacement programme

Contracts for two new ferries will be signed by the end of the year under Scottish Government plans to speed up the delivery of lifeline ferry services for islanders.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth announced the procurement process for two new ships for the Clyde and Hebrides network is underway in what will be a key test whether the Government has learned from the catastrophic ferries fiasco. The contract, worth around £115 million, including allowance for minor port improvements, should be awarded by the end of the year.

It will see two ships constructed for the Skye triangle routes to Lochmaddy and Tarbert on the same specification as the new ferries already being built for the Islay route. This suggests the mistakes of awarding the contract for hulls 801 and 802 to Ferguson Marine without an agreed specification, a factor the shipyard management blamed for much of the overspend, will be avoided. The lack of a full builder’s refund guarantee for those vessels, which would have protected the Government from the rising costs, will be a mandatory requirement for the two new ferries.

The Government also hopes the new ferries will improve resilience on a network that has been dogged by weather and reliability cancellations, and suffers from a rapidly aging fleet.

The new ferries could also see the two embattled vessels, which are now more than six years late and likely to cost more than £300m, deployed on an “alternative route”. This, Ms Gilruth said, could provide additional capacity to Arran in the peak season. Island communities will be consulted on the plans at “the appropriate time”, the transport minister said.

She said: “The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to improving the lifeline ferry fleet and better meeting the needs of island communities, so I’m pleased to announce additional funding to allow CMAL to launch a procurement for two additional vessels for the CalMac fleet.

“It will also allow consideration of all options to deploy vessel 802 on an alternative route, including potentially alongside her sister ship, the MV Glen Sannox, to provide additional capacity to and from Arran in the peak season. All the options will be discussed with island communities at the appropriate time.”

The contract will be a key test of whether the Government and its ferry agencies have learned from the mistakes of the Ferguson Marine ferries fiasco. The scandal has dogged the Government for years, forced them to nationalise a failing shipyard, and has seen accusations of contract awards being rigged by the ferry procurement body CMAL. It is not known whether the publicly-owned shipyard will bid for the two new ferries.

Jenny Gilruth has announced the procurement process for two new ferries is underway.

Kevin Hobbs, CMAL’s chief executive, said: “This is a highly welcome commitment from the Scottish Government, which allows us to increase the pace of vessel replacement plans in line with our ambitions. This additional investment will bring two new vessels to the fleet, meaning a total of six major vessels will be replaced by 2026. It also means communities in Harris and North Uist will benefit from a two-vessel service, a move that will strengthen overall resilience.”

Scottish Labour’s island’s spokesperson Rhoda Grant said islanders would be hoping the announcement was not the “SNP’s attempt to cook up a back-up plan” in case the two “botched ferries never sail”. She said: “We need a national ferry building programme that replaces the CalMac fleet, provides the ferries islanders need, and provides jobs in the Scottish shipbuilding sector. Any extra capacity is always welcome, but this news will be cold comfort to the islanders still waiting for the last pair of ferries they were promised. They need ferries now.”

Graham Simpson, the Scottish Conservative spokesperson, said the new contract must be a “fully open transparent procurement process". He said: “Island residents who have suffered years of disruption as a result of the SNP’s epic incompetence will be forgiven for not getting too excited at this news. It is a relief to see the SNP finally playing catch-up on their decade-old ferry replacement programme, but after the fiasco at Ferguson Marine, no-one be holding their breath for these vessels being delivered any time soon.”

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