By Colin Smeeton
There has been widespread anger after it was revealed that the two Arran ferries being built at Ferguson Marine shipyard will cost £360 million but, when finished, will be worth just £70 million each.
The shock announcement was made by Ferguson Marine chief executive David Tydeman when he addressed MSPs at the net zero, energy and transport committee at Holyrood on Wednesday.
Mr Tydeman estimated the redesign issues would cost 10 per cent of the total budget which he cited as £360m and which excluded the £45m of taxpayers’ money given to the firm to keep it afloat.
With design now complete, Mr Tydeman said there is an opportunity to secure fixed price contracts for the remainder of the build of the MV Glen Rosa.
“Through this we now have, perhaps for the first time, an opportunity to stay within the budget and contingencies,” he said.
“Overall, combining the £120.3m incurred by [Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited] between 2015 and 2019, and the latest forecasts I’ve set out, MV Glen Sannox will have cost just over £200 million to complete and MV Glen Rosa is expected to be £40m less, reflecting the benefit of being the second ship.”
In his opinion, the chief executive told the committee, the ships should have cost around £70m each to build – less than half of what he estimates the final cost will be.
The shipyard boss was grilled by MSPs who did not hold back on reminding him that the two vessels were originally estimated to cost £97m and that they are already six years overdue.
Mr Tydeman deferred blame for the fiasco, saying that he inherited the problems.
Without blaming his predecessor, turnaround director Tim Hair who was paid almost £2m over two years, he said: “Regrettably, we’ve encountered many more problems than I first imagined. And the amount of work to solve design clashes and errors of the past has been significant.”
More ominously and causing further concern for the long-suffering Arran public, Mr Tydeman did not appear to have much faith in the vessels being delivered on schedule. He told MSPs he was more confident about the accuracy of the cost estimates than the timetable for delivery of the vessels.
Speaking about the uncertainty in the trials process, he added: “Once we start to run the engines and test the ship over the coming months, in January and February particularly, that’s when we’ll know whether the design works, whether any vibration issues cause things to come loose.”
The MV Glen Sannox is due to be delivered in March next year while the MV Glen Rosa has been scheduled for handover at the end of May 2025. Any delays during the testing period will have a knock on effect for the delivery dates for both vessels. They will then have to undergo at least two months of sea trials before coming into service.
Ferguson Marine chief executive officer David Tydeman giving his quarterly update at Holyrood this week. No_B43ferry01_23_David_Tydeman