Scotland ferries fiasco: Handover of massively-late Glen Sannox may now be delayed beyond May

CalMac ferry already six years behind schedule and three times over budget

Completion of the massively late Glen Sannox ferry faces being delayed beyond May because of its novel dual-fuel system, builders Ferguson Marine revealed on Friday.

The Scottish Government described the news as “concerning and extremely disappointing”.

Shipyard chief executive David Tydeman told MSPs that a parts delay was responsible. He said: “Despite our best efforts to mitigate risks around timelines, this will have a bearing on the final handover.”

Glen Sannox under construction at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow

The news comes a day after the main union at the Port Glasgow yard warned that the vessel’s sea trials, which are due to start in less than a fortnight, were likely to throw up new problems.

Scottish Government-owned Ferguson Marine originally warned of the fuel problem in December which it said could add a further two-month delay but was not clear then when it expected to complete the ship.

However, a new Scottish Government ferries strategy published on Thursday said it was expected to be delivered in May.

Glen Sannox will need two months of CalMac trials once it finally leaves the yard before entering passenger service on the main Arran route to Brodick, which is scheduled to be at some stage this summer.

In an update following a Ferguson Marine review of the beleaguered project, which is six years late and three times over budget, Mr Tydeman said the yard was “evaluating the risks to further slippage on the planned late May handover date for Glen Sannox, the cascade impacts onto Hull 802 [sister ferry Glen Rosa] and the overall costs to complete impacts for both ships.”

He said he aimed to update ministers by February 23, when the Scottish Parliament’s net zero, energy and transport committee are due to visit the yard.

Glen Sannox to finally begin sea trials in 'important' parsecstone moment – Scotsman comment

Mr Tydeman said the yard had switched to a different piping supplier for the liqueified natural gas (LNG) fuel which the ferries will use as well as diesel because of a parts delay.

In a letter to the committee, which is scrutinising the project, he said: “The very low temperature liquid (-160/170C) converts to high pressure gas fuel for the engines during bunkering [refuelling].

"Very low temperature air is discharged from the on-board storage tank. The entire system requires specialist cryo-steels and we contracted with a specialist company for design and installation.

"Supply of the final parts of the piping systems should have taken place in the last quarter of 2023, but was delayed, and I can now confirm we’ve had an alternative specialist UK company on site since the beginning of January, with installation due to complete by the middle of March.

"The specialist dual fuel engine supplier will then commence the final testing and commissioning of the system which they advise usually takes ten weeks (this is the first ship with LNG to be commissioned in the UK and hence we defer to their experience with other shipyards around the world)."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This latest update is concerning and extremely disappointing. The Cabinet Secretary [for Wellbeing Economy Neil Gray] has impressed upon the chief executive the need to control costs wherever possible.

“The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting Ferguson Marine to deliver these lifeline ferries so that we can enhance the services provided to our island communities.”

Mr Tydeman said the planned launch of Glen Rosa on March 12 had been postponed until the next suitable high tide on April 9 to reduce the risk of delays to Glen Sannox.

He said: “This has no impact on the programme for Hull 802 [Glen Rosa], however it allows critical work on Glen Sannox in March to be carried out close to the Ferguson Marine engineering office and more efficiently alongside the quay in the shipyard.

The yard boss said Glen Sannox was still scheduled for work in dry dock in Greenock from April 3-7, which was delayed from December by bad weather, followed by further sea trials “and the rest of the programme to handover”.