Brand new CalMac Glen Sannox ferry to be taken out of service weeks after launch

Brand new CalMac ferry Glen Sannox will be taken out of service for repairs to its anchors once new parts arrive next month - weeks after it finally starts carrying passengers.

News of the latest setback for the vessel comes days before it is due start operating on CalMac’s busiest route to Arran from Monday, more than six-and-a-half years late.

Glen Sannox during initial sea trials last February when the anchor problem was first spotted | Getty Images

Last week, The Scotsman revealed a toilet problem had forced the cancellation of a preview sailing on Tuesday as part of “stress testing” the vessel ahead of it officially entering service between Troon and Brodick.

However, CalMac has said it had “high confidence” that its second largest vessel would be ready to operate in time.

Glen Sannox, which was ordered a decade ago, has suffered a long series of setbacks and delays that has left it costing some £400 million - around four times its original contract value.

The fault with Glen Sannox’s anchors mechanism involves “gypsies” which are used to haul them from the seabed, which were found to have slipped during sea trials before the ship was completed by the Ferguson Marine shipyard in November. It will need to be out of service for around two days while the repairs take place.

Scottish Government firm Caledonian Maritime Asset Limited (Cmal), which owns the ferry, told MSPs on Tuesday it expected the replacement parts to arrive in early February.

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Cmal director of vessels Jim Anderson told the Scottish Parliament’s net zero, energy and transport committee: “On the first builders’ [Ferguson Marine’s] trials in February, the anchors were lowered and there were some issues observed when we were retrieving the anchors.

“By the time we got to the owner’s [Cmal’s] sea trials [in October], you could see the anchor chain was slipping more and more, and it was identified that we had to make a modification to the system.

“The update I got yesterday [Monday] is that early February - we don’t have the actual date as yet - is when the gypsies will arrive.

“As soon as we’ve got a definitive date for that, alongside with CalMac from the operations point of view, we will then plan when will be the best time to carry out that work.

“I would put this kind of job at about two days.”

CalMac said the anchors had shown “satisfactory capability” prior to the ferry being delivered.

It said: “The vessel will have to come out of service for these parts to be fitted, and this has been factored into our service plans.”

Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Claire Baker said: "That this long-awaited ferry faces being taken out of service only weeks after it is launched is a huge blow to islanders when all they wanted for Christmas was a reliable transport service.

"The SNP have failed to support our lifeline ferries and now any repair, big or small, causes huge disruption."

Sue Webber, her Scottish Conservatives counterpart, said: “Islanders who have been waiting years for this lifeline ferry will be dismayed.

“This only adds insult to injury for our island communities who have been betrayed by the SNP at every turn.

“The SNP’s ferries fiasco is a national scandal that has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds. Ministerial heads must finally roll.”