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By Colin Smeeton
Scottish ministers have turned down a request for additional funding for Ferguson Marine which says it needs to modernise the yard to keep it competitive.
And while the Scottish Parliament heard that further investment was needed to keep the shipyard operational and competitive, and described the yard as being of vital significance to the Scottish economy, it did not commit to any further funding.
In a statement delivered by wellbeing economy, fair work and energy secretary Neil Gray MSP, the minister said that it was the Scottish Government’s priority to protect jobs and create a sustainable future for the yard.
Since the shipyard was nationalised in 2014 it has cost taxpayers almost £500m and the two ferries being built for the Arran route are six years late and three-and-a-half times over-budget.
An increase in cost, £32m for MV Glen Sannox and £4.8m for MV Glen Rosa, was recently announced by Ferguson Marine CEO David Tydeman, which will bring the cost of Glen Sannox to £130m and £100m for Glen Rosa.
In a shock announcement made previously at Holyrood, Mr Tydeman admitted that the ferries, once completed, will be worth just £70m each.
The additional cost for the vessels was blamed, in part, due to changes which were required to allow Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to issue the vessels with safety certificates. Mr Tydeman described the requirements as having changed while MCA said the rules had been in place for years.
A solution was eventually found to satisfy the regulators – fitting extra staircases and reducing the passenger capacity from 1,000 to 852.
Mr Gray confirmed that the delivery date for MV Glen Sannox is March 12, 2024 and May 31, 2025 for the MV Glen Rosa.
Ahead of that the MV Glen Rosa will be launched and finally glide down the slipway into the River Clyde at Port Glasgow on March 12 next year.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said that parliament will be forgiven for “not celebrating the Glen Rosa launch date because Nicola Sturgeon’s pretend christening of the Glen Sannox six years ago came with painted on windows, fake engines and the wrong bow”.
“It’s enough to make Kim Jong Un blush,” he added, before asking,”why no SNP minister has ever resigned over a scandal that can be seen from space?”.
Shortly before the ministerial statement, Audit Scotland published its annual review of the shipyard’s finances.
It found there is uncertainty around the future financial sustainability of Ferguson Marine which has not secured any work beyond the completion of MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa.
