Ferguson Marine ferries fiasco: Glen Sannox may not be completed until June

But shipyard chief hails new Arran ferry as a “smooth and quiet ship we are all going to be proud of”

The hugely-delayed CalMac ferry Glen Sannox may now be completed as late as June, builders Ferguson Marine have told MSPs.

The admission from chief executive David Tydeman to a Scottish Parliament committee came a day after he revealed the cost of finishing the ferry and sister ship Glen Rosa had risen again, with the total approaching £400 million – four times the original contract price.

It prompted net zero, energy and transport committee convener Edward Mountain to raise concerns that Glen Sannox would not be in service on the main Arran route until after the “summer rush” since CalMac would need up to two months for familiarisation work once it finally takes delivery of the vessel.

Glen Rosa encased in scaffolding with Glen Sannox docked behind it at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow last week. (Photo by John Devlin/The Scotsman)

Mr Tydeman said he expected the ferry to be handed over by the Port Glasgow shipyard “before the end of May or into June”. The date has repeatedly slipped from originally due to have been completed, along with Glen Rosa, six years ago.

The second ship has now been delayed from May to June next year, and “no later than” September.

Mr Tydeman said: “The costs have risen on Glen Sannox by a small amount – 2-4 per cent since October, £142m rising to £145m-149m.” He has said Glen Rosa is forecast to cost up to £150m to complete. The combined total of up to £299m compares to the original contract price for both ferries of £97m.

Mr Tydeman said of Glen Sannox: "We will be practically complete building the ship by the end of March and commissioning will run through in the months afterwards, mainly on the LNG [liquefied natural gas] system.

"The rest of the time in April-May will be handover trials and further testing, and client [Scottish Government ferry-owning firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited] acceptance trials. That hopefully moves handover to before the end of May or in June. We may need some time after the end of May for final handover and acceptance trials."

Mr Mountain said because of the additional CalMac trials, the ferry may not come into service until September, “just in time to miss the summer rush”.

Mr Tydeman said the yard was “in a much stronger place” with Glen Rosa, having learned the lessons from mistakes in the construction of Glen Sannox by previous yard managements.

He said Glen Sannox’s initial four-day sea trials this month had been very successful. “By the fourth day, we were doing fairly aggressive, full helm to port and starboard, zigzagging manoeuvres at maximum speed – really testing the ship,” he said.

"I was very reassured that we didn’t break anything. The ship proved to be very reliable, even to the point where we were testing noise and vibration, running full astern at full power at nearly ten knots [11.5mph].

"I can really confirm the Glen Sannox is a smooth and quiet ship. I think this is a ship we are all going to be proud of."

Mr Tydeman said further work in dry dock, such as cleaning off “quite a lot of underwater weed”, would improve things further. He said: “We are expecting that does limit the speed that we experienced two weeks ago in [sea] trials and I expect her to be up to proper performance when we come out clean on April 7.”