Capacity is to be cut on the two new Arran ferries as a further delay is announced to the completion of recently named MV Glen Rosa.
The cost of two CalMac ferries being built at the Ferguson shipyard for the Ardrossan to Brodick route have risen again after regulators ordered safety changes.
Completing MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa will now cost at least an extra £24m, the yard’s boss has told MSPs. And the delivery date for the second ship, previously known as Hull 802, has been pushed back by five months to May 2025.
The passenger capacity of the ships will also be reduced from 1,000 to 852 to satisfy emergency evacuation rules.
The two ships, which were meant to cost £97m, are now 3.5 times over budget and will be delivered six years late.
Ferguson chief executive David Tydeman told Holyrood’s net zero committee the yard was continuing to face “design gaps, associated re-work and surprises”. He believes this is due to errors made in the past, before and after the Port Glasgow shipyard was nationalised in 2019.
The latest cost increase is partly driven by changes required by safety regulator the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
The ships will not be allowed to carry passengers unless improvements are made to emergency evacuation routes. Plans to widen corridors and fit extra staircases on each ship have now been agreed with the MCA, but discussions are ongoing about about “11 vertical exit routes” from the car decks.
Talks are also taking place with CalMac and ferries procurement agency CMAL on reducing the passenger capacity of both ships by 148.
The delivery date for MV Glen Sannox is scheduled for March 31 next year, but several weeks of sea trials will be required by CalMac so it is likely to miss the start of the summer season on the busy Arran route.
Delivery of the second ship, MV Glen Rosa, formerly known as Hull 802 and also destined for the Arran route, has been pushed back by five months until May 31, 2025.
When government-owned ferries procurement agency CMAL placed the order with the Inverclyde shipyard nearly eight years ago, the two ferries were expected to cost £97m and were due for delivery in 2018.
Commenting on the MV Glen Rosa delay, Katy Clark, Scottish Labour MSP for West Scotland, said: “Islanders will understandably be extremely disappointed this costly and extremely overdue vessel has been delayed again. The failure by the Scottish Government to provide reliable lifetime ferry services for the islands is a disgrace.
“There is no doubt a litany of mistakes have been made at the Ferguson Marine shipyard, not least when it comes to governance, financial safeguards and a raft of decisions made at ministerial level, some stemming back to before nationalisation.
“These mistakes must be learned from, but having visited the yard this week to meet with management and the workforce, it is clear investment is also urgently needed to secure the yard’s long-term future.
“Regeneration of shipbuilding along the Clyde will not be possible without sustained investment and support. The shipyard will need continuous work and ministers need to provide the funding needed to ensure it is put on a sound footing in future.”
