Ferries saga ship Glen Sannox finally delivered

The long-delayed vessel astatine the centre of Scotland's ferries saga has been handed implicit by the Ferguson shipyard, precisely 7 years aft it was launched.

MV Glen Sannox, destined for CalMac's Arran route, is the archetypal caller ample vas for the westbound seashore ferry fleet successful astir a decade.

The ferry relation volition present behaviour respective weeks of unit familiarisation trials earlier the vessel carries its archetypal passengers successful January.

Glen Sannox was primitively owed for transportation successful 2018 but has faced large challenges successful plan and construction, sparking the longest-running governmental contention of the devolution era.

Costs person risen from an archetypal declaration terms of £97m to much than £400m, including £45m of authorities loans that were ne'er afloat recovered.

The handover comes 7 years to the time since the vessel was famously launched by erstwhile archetypal curate Nicola Sturgeon with painted-on windows and plywood funnels.

Since past the Port Glasgow shipyard has faced administration, nationalisation - and years of frustrating setbacks arsenic it grappled with analyzable engineering challenges to implicit the dual-fuel ship.

The delays besides disrupted vas replacement plans, with CalMac present nether immense unit to support services with an ageing and progressively unreliable fleet.

Alex Logan, convener for the GMB national who has worked astatine the Inverclyde shipyard since helium was 16, said it was a large time some for the gait - and Scotland's land communities.

"It's been a agelong hard conflict - everyone knows this, the troubles we've had with Glen Sannox - but we've yet got it implicit and we're looking guardant to the islanders getting a vessel," helium said.

"I tin lone apologise connected behalf of the workforce - but it's not immoderate responsibility of the workforce. It was atrocious planning, atrocious plan - but yet we're present and I'm glad."

Glen Sannox is the 2nd largest vessel to articulation the CalMac fleet - and the archetypal ferry ever built successful the UK susceptible of moving connected liquefied earthy state (LNG).

The 102.4m (336ft) vas was formally handed implicit to CMAL, the publicly-owned institution which owns Scotland's westbound seashore ferries and leases them to CalMac.

CalMac, which is besides owned by the Scottish government, volition present walk six-and-a-half weeks conducting unit familiarisation and harbour berthing trials.

The vessel volition besides statesman its yearly attraction cycle, with 2 weeks of inspections scheduled for aboriginal December, earlier carrying its archetypal passengers from Troon to Brodick connected Arran, astir apt successful mid-January.

Construction of Glen Sannox's sister ship, Glen Rosa, is proceeding much smoothly, and it is owed to beryllium delivered successful September adjacent year.

The bid for the 2 ferries has go 1 of the biggest nationalist procurement disasters since powerfulness was devolved to Holyrood.

Glen Sannox was primitively owed for transportation successful May 2018, with Glen Rosa expected to travel 2 months later, but from the outset the physique was plagued by plan challenges and disputes implicit rising costs.

The contracts were awarded successful 2015, a twelvemonth aft Ferguson Shipbuilders, the past commercialized gait connected the River Clyde, was rescued from medication by palmy businessman Jim McColl, successful a woody brokered by past archetypal curate Alex Salmond.

While the ships were bigger and much analyzable than thing antecedently attempted by the tiny Port Glasgow shipyard, the caller owners were promising caller concern and were assured they could present them.

But relations with the yard's caller absorption and CMAL rapidly soured with some sides blaming each different for problems that developed.

Jim McColl claimed a flawed conception plan by CMAL, repeated alteration requests and interference led to unforeseen costs.

CMAL maintained McColl's institution had simply proved incapable to plan and physique the ships, and determination was nary ground successful the contracts to wage immoderate more.

The stalemate saw the steadfast tally retired of wealth - and Ferguson's fell backmost into medication successful August 2019.

It was subsequently nationalised, redeeming 350 jobs, but the caller absorption nether "turnaround director" Tim Hair struggled to resoluteness the difficulties.

He near the steadfast successful aboriginal 2022, having been paid astir £2m for 18 months work, with the 2 ships acold from complete.

His replacement David Tydeman described the challenges of fitting the LNG strategy into the choky machinery spaces arsenic much analyzable than gathering a Type 26 frigate.

Mr Tydeman was himself subsequently sacked by the Ferguson committee earlier this twelvemonth aft different transportation deadline was missed.

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