‘Shambles beggars belief’ end plans for ‘green fuel’ ferries
New ferries built to serve Scottish islands will not utilise liquefied natural gas – despite millions being spent at ports to prepare for adoption
TAXPAYERS are set to foot a multimillion-pound bill as transport chiefs have abandoned liquefied natural gas (LNG) designs with new vessels that would be expected to use them.
The Herald on Sunday can confirm that the blueprints for the newest ferries that will serve Scotland’s islands do not involve LNG – which was once lauded as the green way forward for the nation’s ageing ferry fleet.
Preparations costing about £16 million had already been made to ensure ports were ready for LNG facilities.
But issues with even providing the LNG facilities are threatening the plan to get the much-delayed and over-budget ferry fiasco vessels Glen Sannox and Hull 802, which rely on LNG, into service.
Both vessels were hailed as a step towards a greener future for Scotland’s state-owned CalMac fleet as they were to be the first UK-built ships capable of running off LNG and marine gas oil.
LNG was seen as significantly cleaner and would help to reduce emissions to meet ambitious Scottish Government targets.
But designs for new ferries being procured by state-controlled Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) shows the Government has turned its back on LNG.
It means Scotland will be left with, at most, just two ferries that will rely on the fuel, and they remain languishing in the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Inverclyde.
The news comes as Ferguson Marine confirmed that further issues with Glen Sannox means it will not initially run on LNG.
This vessel will be operating on a diesel, single-fuel system for at least the first nine months of its service. Following this period, it may then have to be taken out of service to test its LNG system.
‘Shambles’
SCOTTISH Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson said: “This revelation just adds to the shambles around the building of this vessel which was supposed to be climate friendly.”
As recently as January 2020, CMAL’s chief executive Kevin Hobbs said that hundreds of LNG vessels had been built and are in operation across the world and insisted it was “proven technology”.
But by mid-2021, CMAL was turning to Turkey to create a new breed of ferry that would not rely on LNG.
The Herald on Sunday understands the blueprints for the latest two ferries that are to be procured to serve Uist, Harris and potentially Arran were drawn up for Turkish shipyard Cemre Marin Endustri which won the Islay contract by Norwegian zero-emission ferry designers LMG Marin.
They were based on a concept drawn up by German ship design consultant Navalue, which was handed £360,000 last year to help with the concept for a batch of seven smaller vehicle and passenger ferries to replace some of the country’s oldest vessels on the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services network.
The blueprints follow the specification for two vessels being built in Turkey for Islay and will be a diesel-electric hybrid. They will be able to hold up to 450 passengers and 100 cars, or 14 HGVs.
At least one contract was awarded by CMAL, which owns the ferry network and commissions new vessels, for the installation of LNG facilities to the tune of £5m.
It was billed by CMAL as Scotland’s first LNG bunkering facilities and in awarding the contract to Danish firm KC LNG, in the summer of 2020, said it marked an “important milestone in the use of LNG fuel in Scotland’s maritime transport”.
‘Cleaner fuel’
CMAL’S senior technical manager and projects director said: “It follows an expansion of LNG bunkering facilities across Europe as increasing numbers of ferry companies turn to LNG as a cleaner fuel to achieve emission reduction targets.”
The state-controlled ferry operator CalMac has also been seeking to award an £11m contract for a supplier of LNG and other temporary facilities since the start of 2020. The Herald on Sunday has been told that it has not yet been awarded.
The plan was for bunkering facilities in Troon, Uig on Skye and Ardrossan.
It has spent nearly £300,000 on contractors to provide training services on the use of LNG as fuel on the ferry vessels, including tuition on the risks and emergency procedures.
Former SNP justice secretary Kenny
MacAskill, now deputy leader of the Alba Party, has raised concerns about the implications over the departure from LNG with the Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth. He said: “It’s a shambles. The order for the new ferries shows a capitulation on LNG. We’ll be left paying for the infrastructure yet with [few] ships using them.”
A ferry user group official said the new ship contracts raise concerns that Glen Sannox and Hull 802 were “simply a very costly failed experiment”.
“We will now have a network of facilities for LNG, with just two ships using them which beggars belief,” he said. “It only goes to show there are people who just do not seem to know what they are doing. We can only hope that the new vessels, while being built outside of Scotland, will be capable of doing what they are supposed to, in good time and to budget.”
Both MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802 are currently languishing at the Ferguson Marine yard.
They were due online in the first half of 2018, with one intitially to serve Arran and the other to serve the Skye triangle routes to North Uist and Harris, but are at least five years late, with costs soaring from £97m to nearly £350m.
Multiple routes
CMAL said the dual-fuel vessels were supposed to be capable of serving multiple routes on the west coast.
In presentations, CMAL said: “The flexibility of using marine gas oil and LNG provide the opportunity to lower emissions and gives greater flexibility over future fuel costs.
“And it allows the vessels to be operated at various ports.”
We will have a network for LNG facilities with just two ships using them which beggars belief. It goes to show there are people who just do not seem to know what they are doing
According to the latest risk register analysis, seen by The Herald on Sunday, nationalised Ferguson Marine, which is seeking to complete the ferries, has said there are “high” risks to the project because LNG bunkering “requires modifications as risk assessment has not yet been undertaken”.
It has been given a “red” alert status. As of June, no ground had reportedly been broken on bunkering facilities which were due to be ready this year.
Former Ferguson Marine shipyard owner Jim McColl has previously insisted that Glen Sannox and Hull 802 were not as environmentally friendly as presented, claiming they would spew out poisonous gases while the infrastructure was not in place to cope.
Mr McColl said LNG was already “obsolete technology” and claimed there had been analysis that shows the fumes produced were 80 per cent more toxic than diesel.
In September 2015, when Ferguson Marine under McColl was selected to build Glen Sannox and Hull 802, the CMAL chief executive said the design of the ferries followed CalMac’s “desire for an LNG-powered ferry, which helps to future proof the vessel”.
When Nicola Sturgeon first “launched” Glen Sannox in 2017, she said: “These state-of-the-art ferries are more sustainable, therefore contributing to
Scotland’s world-leading climate change goals.”
Industry insiders believe Cemre Marin Endustri, which won the Islay ferries contract, has a “strong competitive advantage” in getting the latest ferries contract having produced the non-LNG blueprint through the Islay tender process.
That would be seen as another blow to state-controlled Ferguson Marine, which failed to get past the first pre-qualification questionnaire hurdle in the Islay ferries contract.
Net-zero target
A SPOKESMAN for CMAL said: “The maritime sector is one of the world’s largest contributors of carbon emissions. We are playing our part in the journey to net zero and it is essential the next generation of vessels and future harbours are environmentally-friendly and sustainable.
“Carbon-free fuels are in the early stages of development across the UK maritime sector. Like every emerging technology, it takes time to develop and invest, and to reach maturity and pinpoint the most effective solutions. There are various views on the most effective ways for these fuels to be used for clean shipping. LNG is an option and there are indeed many LNG-fuelled vessels operating around the world.
“Our vessels team are involved in leading and contributing to a number of innovative projects to explore the most effective options, including the HySeas III project to design a hydrogen-powered ferry and researching hydrogen, ammonia and electricity as alternative maritime fuels.
“The two vessels being built in Turkey are expected to deliver a 31% reduction in emissions compared to the current vessel on the route, MV Finlaggan. Our small vessel replacement programme will deliver low-emission vessels utilising the latest proven battery and on-shore charging technologies.
“Ultimately, our goal is to build a carbon-free ferry fleet.
“We are equally committed to reducing carbon output at ports and harbours and we have integrated biomass boilers, solar panels and air source heating systems at ferry terminal buildings, as well as reed beds at Portavadie as a low-cost, zeroenergy wastewater treatment system.”