Ministers are bracing themselves for a damning report this week on the CalMac ferries fiasco at the Ferguson Marine shipyard, which will lay bare the company’s troubled history.
The Audit Scotland report is expected to highlight huge mistakes made since the Port Glasgow business was taken over by the tycoon Jim McColl seven years ago, shortly before the 2014 referendum when he was a supporter of Scottish independence.
Repeated design changes, poor decision making, a now-nationalised yard lacking experience, sub-standard work, government interference and Covid have all been identified as factors in Glen Sannox, earmarked for the Arran crossing, and an unnamed sister vessel being about five years late and costing more than double the original £97 million contract. Despite ministerial assurances, there are doubts that either vessel will ever come into service.
A separate report by consultants EY on the tri-structure for procuring and running ferries, between Transport Scotland, Caledonian Maritime Assets, the body procuring the ships, and CalMac, the taxpayer-funded operator, is expected to be published soon.
After concerns about years of fleet underinvestment and flawed governance arrangements, there has been speculation that the ferry network could be broken up with more lucrative routes sold off to private firms.
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Ministers are believed to favour a simpler, more accountable governance process for the service, and with ferries built in Scotland to simpler, more standardised designs.
This week ministers are expected to be questioned over what further delays and costs there will be to the delivery of the CalMac ferries as a result of hundreds of electrical cables that have been wrongly installed, with up to 900 wires, some more than 100m long, requiring to be replaced. The cost of harbour upgrades to accommodate the two dual-fuel passenger and car vessels are unknown, but could run to more than £100 million. The estimated renovation of Ardrossan harbour for the Arran crossing is already running late and put at more than £40 million.
Since the takeover of the yard seven years ago, there have been six transport ministers: Keith Brown, Derek Mackay, Humza Yousaf, Paul Wheelhouse, Graeme Dey and the incumbent Jenny Gilruth.
This month the government awarded a £105 million contract to a Turkish yard to build two new CalMac ferries for its Islay routes.
Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative transport spokesman, said: “With an ageing fleet where half of the 31 ships are over 25 years old, we need more investment and to look at the structure that oversees the way we buy and run ferries.”
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A spokeswoman for the Scottish government said it has ruled out privatisation and has no plans to split up the CalMac Ferries network.
It said it will engage with all key stakeholders on the EY report “to ensure the most efficient and best value arrangement to deliver our key lifeline ferry services”.
