Quango boss defiant on ferry saga

THE boss of the quango at the centre of the ferries fiasco has claimed the delays and cost overruns have ‘nothing to do with us’.

Kevin Hobbs, chief executive of Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), made the comment as he opposed public inquiry calls.

Two CalMac ferries being built at the Ferguson shipyard are five years behind schedule and costs have soared from the £97million contract value to an estimated £240million.

Some of the delays and extra costs followed a dispute between CMAL and the former owner of the Port Glasgow yard. It eventually plunged into administration and was nationalised.

SNP ministers went ahead with the award of the contract to Ferguson Marine in 201 despite CMAL raising concerns about the risks of not having a full refund guarantee in place.

In an interview with the Sunday Post, Mr Hobbs said: ‘At the end of the day we had six bids and this was the most expensive. Five other shipyards said they could build the ships for less – only slightly less – but they said they could build them for less. So what has gone on in that building contract is absolutely nothing to do with us.’

Ex-Ferguson owner Jim McColl has blamed CMAL for many of the problems with the contract and demanded a judge-led public inquiry.

But Mr Hobbs said: ‘A public inquiry would absorb an awful lot of time.

‘I’m not saying it would be the wrong thing to do but it detracts from our resources and doing what we really want to do, which is look forward and replace ferries.’