Glen Rosa ferry launch: Scottish Government pledges to Ferguson Marine workforce to ‘stand with you long into future’

Cheers as Glen Rosa goes down slipway at Port Glasgow shipyard after years of delays and cost overruns

Wellbeing economy secretary Mairi McAllan has pledged to the Ferguson Marine shipyard workforce the Scottish Government will “stand with you long into the future” as the second of its two hugely late and over budget CalMac ferries was launched.

Glen Rosa, the heaviest vessel to go down the slipway at the 121-year-old Port Glasgow yard, was cheered by a crowd of hundreds on Tuesday as it entered the Clyde more than six years after sister vessel Glen Sannox.

It will take another 18 months to be completed, with internal fittings, pipes and cables to be added.

Shipbuilders carry out last minute works and preparations before the MV Glen Rosa is launched at Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow shipyard, marking the first time the vessel will enter the water. Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

Despite having no further vessels on its order book, Ms McAllan underlined ministers’ commitment to the yard, which the Scottish Government took over in 2019 after it went into administration for a second time.

She told the crowds, many of them families of workers and other local people: "The Scottish Government stands with the workers of Ferguson Marine and the community of Port Glasgow and Inverclyde.

"We stood behind you at nationalisation, we stand behind you today as your work comes to fruition and we stand with you long into the future."

Later, the Cabinet secretary told the media: "It means a lot to people to know that Scotland's shipbuilding heritage is alive and well on the Clyde, and to see this significant project, which has had its challenges, begin to come to fruition.

Dignitaries and members of the Ferguson’s shipyard workforce attend the launch of the MV Glen Rosa in Glasgow. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

"Having five female apprentices on the stage [at the launch] was really important because it said this is the future of Scottish shipbuilding and it's in safe hands."

However, the Cabinet secretary said her confidence in the yard was “not unmitigated” and it needed to be able to win further orders.

She said: "To deliver future contracts, whether that is public or private, we need to work to improve the competitiveness of the yard, and that's the principal reason why we have been working with the board to develop a new business case for investment, which was delivered to my officials last Friday.”

Ms McAllan again insisted the shock sacking of yard chief executive David Tydeman two weeks ago had been a decision by its board, which had referred to his “performance”, without providing details.

Dignitaries and members of the Ferguson’s shipyard workforce attend the launch of the MV Glen Rosa in Glasgow. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

However, industry sources have said Mr Tydeman had been made a scapegoat after his blunt honesty at the scale of mistakes he had discovered in the way the two ferries had been constructed by previous managements.

Ferries crisis: CalMac and Ferguson Marine chief executives’ sackings – we’re running out of fall guys

Glen Sannox is six years late and Glen Rosa will be finished seven years behind schedule. Their names are taken from features on Arran.

Together, the they will cost some four times the original price of £97 million, with up to around £150m required to finish each ship.

Glen Sannox is now “on the cusp of delivery” and expected to be completed in June, according to the Scottish Government’s ferry-buying firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal), which ordered the vessels in 2015. However, Ferguson Marine’s interim chief executive John Petticrew is reviewing progress and is due to provide an update next week.

He has already admitted there are “undoubtedly some challenges” over meeting the latest planned completion date of the end of May.

The 102m-long (335ft) dual fuel vessels will be capable of operating on liquefied natural gas and traditional marine gas oil.

Glen Rosa weighs the most of the 363 vessels launched at the yard and, at 3,000 tonnes, is some 800 tonnes, or one third, heavier on launch than Glen Sannox was in 2017.

This is because Cmal said Glen Sannox was launched prematurely, including with its infamous painted-on windows, when much internal fitting out work should have been done first.

Cmal chief executive Kevin Hobbs told The Scotsman in 2022 it had begged the yard to postpone the launch, which was performed by then first minister Nicola Sturgeon, by at least six months.

He said the move had further added to costs, such for as the larger cranes needed to reach out over the floating vessel.

When complete in September next year, Glen Rosa will have the capacity to carry up to 852 passengers plus at least 127 cars or 16 heavy goods vehicles, or a combination of both.

The two ferries, which are due to serve CalMac’s main Arran route to Brodick – its busiest – will be the west coast operator’s second largest after Loch Seaforth, which operates the Ullapool-Stornoway route.

They will replace the main Arran route’s current vessels such as Isle of Arran, which was built at the yard 40 years ago along with four other CalMac ferries which are still in service.

Get our Transport newsletter to find out more about this key issue

The GMB Scotland union said the launch of the Glen Rosa must herald a new era for Ferguson Marine.

Gary Cook, its senior organiser in engineering, said: “The sight of such a ship being launched into the Clyde is a too rare reminder of this river’s proud shipbuilding heritage. This yard and these workers can help ensure that heritage is protected for future generations of shipbuilders, but only with the support of ministers.

“No one, apart from the islanders, wanted these ferries finished more than the workforce, who have been blameless in this sorry process, but been used as a political punchbag for far too long.”

He also called for the contract for seven small ferries for CalMac to be awarded to the yard urgently to give certainty to the workforce and protect the skills at the yard.

Mr Cook said: “The Scottish Government must commit to building the small ferries at Fergusons to create a pipeline of work that will ensure shipbuilding on the Clyde continues for generations to come.”

However, The Scotsman understands she is likely to put the small ferries contract out for competitive tender shortly because directly awarding it to the yard is thought to be in breach of international competition law.

Ferguson Marine hopes to win the order after successfully building similar vessels for CalMac over the past two decades, and Cmal has expressed its confidence in the yard’s ability to repeat this.