Unhappy New Year as Arran hit with further ferry delays
There was to be no New Year ferry cheer for Arran with news the island’s two new ferries are to be delayed yet again.
“Supplier issues” are being blamed for another twomonth delay.
The MV Glen Sannox has missed her January dry dock slot meaning it will now be April before she goes into dry dock, missing the March 2024 delivery date previously promised.
This means she is likely to miss the entire summer 2024 season on the main Brodick route and is not likely to be in service until late next year when the Arran service will move to Troon.
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson described the news as “shocking” and said it is islanders who are suffering as a delays.
“Every time we are given a completion date, it slips. At some point Neil Gray is going to have to say how much more money he is prepared to put into the yard. So far it has been a blank cheque,” he said.
“It is going to an unhappy New Year for our island communities as they await the most expensive ferry in Scottish history.”
News of the delays came from Ferguson Marine shipyard’s chief executive David Tydeman who has written to MSPs warning they are facing “supplier issues” which are delaying the commissioning of the vessels’ LNG propulsion systems and warning this could result in a delay of up to two months.
The MV Glen Sannox and her sister ship the MV Glen Rosa, which are being built at the company’s shipyard result of the on the Clyde, are already six years late and hundreds of millions of pounds over budget. The initial contract in 2016 was for £97m but it is estimated the ferries will now cost £360m when finally completed.
The warning about the latest setback came in a letter from Mr Tydeman to the Scottish Parliament’s net zero, energy and transport committee.
The letter says work is continuing and MSPs will be updated on this in a month.
The first of the ferries, the MV Glen Sannox, is close to completion and is meant to begin sea trials in January. But the letter also reveals the schedule for moving it to a dry dock for work has slipped back because of bad weather.
Mr Tydeman told the committee: “For MV Glen Sannox, the key priority over the past quarter has been completion of works necessary for the dry docking to take place and I regret to advise that bad weather
has prevented the ship moving to the dock this week.
“The ship was ready as planned to move under her own propulsion - with tugs in attendance, one with lines attached - and it is disappointing we missed this significant milestone. Due to advance bookings for the dry dock for other vessels, we will now have to take our turn, proceed with the trials programme in January to March and have booked the earliest available dry dock dates of April 3 to 7.”
The second vessel, named MV Glen Rosa, is scheduled to launch on March 12 2024 but will not be complete until summer 2025.
Responding to the news, energy secretary Neil Gray said: “I have continued to impress upon the chief executive that any further slippage in the programme would have a considerable impact on island communities,” he said. “I also met with the chairman of Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (FMPG) and have impressed on him the need to ensure that every possible mitigation to further delays is in place.”
Scottish Labour transport spokesman Alex Rowley said:
“It beggars belief that even more delays seem to be on the horizon for these long-awaited ferries.
“The Scottish government must set out a real plan to deliver these ferries without any more delays or cost increases so island communities can get the service they deserve and Scotland’s shipbuilding industry can thrive.”