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 two-month 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 result of the 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.
The MV Glen Sannox and her sister ship the MV Glen Rosa, which are being built at the company’s shipyard 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’s disappointing we missed this significant milestone to demonstrate the good progress with the programme. 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 described his deep disappointment at the news from Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (FMPG).
I have continued to impress upon the chief executive that any further slippage in the programme would have a considerable impact on the island communities, he said.
I also met with the chairman of FMPG and have impressed on him the need to ensure that every possible mitigation to further delays is in place.
I reaffirm my commitment that to support FMPG to deliver these lifeline ferries to service our island communities as quickly as possible remains one of my key priorities.
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.
