A study which found the building of one of the delayed ferries at Ferguson Marine was not value for money is estimated to have cost more than £600,000.
Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray announced last month the Scottish Government would plough ahead with the building of the Glen Sannox and as-yet-unnamed hull 802 at Ferguson Marine, despite a study suggesting it would be cheaper to commission another vessel from a different yard than to build the latter ship.
Gray told MSPs that continuing the work would secure jobs at the beleaguered yard, which was saved from administration by the Scottish Government in 2019, and ensure both vessels enter service on routes to the islands earlier than commissioning a replacement for 802 elsewhere.
To ascertain the value for money of the ships, the Scottish Government commissioned a due diligence exercise which included civil servants and outside contractors.
According to an answer from Gray this week to a written parliamentary question from Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, that study is estimated to have cost £620,000.
Johnston, his party’s spokesman for tourism and enterprise, said the government continues to “haemorrhage” money in relation to the ferries “on an industrial scale”.
He added: “It’s a shameful testament to SNP mismanagement that their ‘due diligence’ revealed that completing 802 at Ferguson Marine did not represent value for money, and that it would be cheaper to scrap it and start all over again.
“On balance, ploughing on at Ferguson was probably the least worst option – as the alternative was even longer delays, but for an eye-watering £620k to have been spent on a so-called value for money report establishing it is not cost effective is the latest kick in the teeth to taxpayers and betrayed islanders in a never-ending scandal.”
Johnston said the minister should publicly lay out how much cheaper commissioning another vessel from a different yard would be compared to continuing at Ferguson, although final costs for the ships are not yet known.
“It’s typical of the SNP’s secrecy and lack of accountability throughout this national scandal that he has so far refused to do so,” he added.
Gray responded: “Our island communities deserve to be supported by two new, energy efficient vessels with the capacity and reliability required to support vibrant island economies.
“In setting out my decision to issue a written authority last month to enable work on vessel 802 to continue, there was clear, cross-party acknowledgement that this was the appropriate course of action – not least as it presents the fastest possible route to getting vital new lifeline services into service.
“It is right and proper that appropriate due diligence was undertaken to inform this decision, I also made it clear to Parliament that the narrow value-for-money assessment does not take into account the impact added delays would have on our island communities, nor the broader social and economic benefits of continuing the vessel’s build at Ferguson Marine.”
The building of the ferries has been a running sore for the Scottish Government, with costs potentially running to three times more than the original £97m contract, delays of five years and questions over the propriety of the awarding of the contract.
Meanwhile, CalMac only operated all sailings on its scheduled timetable on 31 days in a 15-month period, new statistics have revealed.
The figures, released in response to a freedom of information request from the Scottish Liberal Democrats, prompted fresh calls from the party for the Scottish Government to pay compensation to travellers affected by “mayhem” on ferry routes.
The state-owned operator has suffered problems with the reliability of its ageing ferry fleet – with CalMac having recently been forced to cancel all sailings on the Lochboisdale service for most of June.
Commenting on the disruption to services, Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said: “Communities have been left adrift by a Government that makes getting from A to B mission impossible.
“In the time period from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2023, there were 31 days where all timetabled sailings ran.”
CalMac managing director Robbie Drummond however stated: “Since January 2022, we have operated 199,768 out of 206,951 scheduled sailings, a success rate of 96.5%, despite the difficult west coast waters in which we operate.
“The way the numbers have been presented here give a misleading narrative which is unfair on our hardworking staff.”
In its answer to the Lib Dems, CalMac noted there where 207 days over the 15-month period when it ran more sailings than were scheduled on its timetable.
Drummond explained that environmental factors - such as adverse weather or tidal conditions - were the main reasons for ferries to be delayed or cancelled.
However he added: “We recognise that disruption to services due to breakdowns and technical faults is extremely challenging for local communities and we apologise to those affected when this occurs.
“The first six months of 2023 has been particularly challenging as vessels have required more work in drydock than planned.”
He said CalMac is “working hard to prevent unscheduled maintenance caused by technical issues”, with “record sums” being invested in the fleet – with spending on maintenance set to top £43m this year, compared to £20m in 2017.
The Liberal Democrats, however, said ferries had performed below schedule on 217 days out of the 455.
Overall, there were 2,256 sailings that were lost across the 15-month period, the party added.
Rennie, the party’s communities spokesman, demanded: “Ministers should be compensating islanders for the mayhem they have caused, but they are point-blank refusing.”
With two new CalMac ferries that are under construction at the Ferguson Marine yard in Port Glasgow now several years late and running at more than three times the original price tag, he claimed: “The SNP and Greens sit idle while the Government-owned Ferguson’s shipyard shell out huge bonuses to bosses.
“Islanders losing business, missing events and hospital appointments are being let down yet again by a nationalist Government that is totally out of touch and unwilling to stand up for these communities.”
First Minister Humza Yousaf has previously told MSPs he will “keep an open mind” on making payments and that compensation for islanders is “not off the table”.
But he said that currently any cash penalties imposed on CalMac for performance problems go towards efforts to improve the “resilience” of the ferry fleet, with Yousaf adding compensation would “need to be carefully considered” because it could impact on this.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: “While operational decisions regarding the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services lie with CalMac, we recognise this issue is not just about transport performance – it’s about delivering the confidence needed to sustain local populations.
“The Scottish Government has invested more than £2bn in our ferry services since 2007 and we have outlined plans to invest around £700m in a five-year plan to improve ferry infrastructure.
“Since May 2021, we have bought and deployed an additional vessel in MV Loch Frisa, chartered the MV Arrow and MV Alfred, commissioned two new vessels for Islay, progressed investment in essential harbour infrastructure, and now we are delivering a further two new Islay-class vessels.”
On calls for compensation, the spokesman added: “The First Minister has instructed officials to consider what can be done for businesses like those in South Uist going forward.
“This work is being taken forward and the First Minister will be kept informed of progress.
“We recognise the impact of the disruption that island communities are facing, which is why we are committed to investing in our ferry services and ensuring we have six new vessels in the network by the end of the parliamentary session.
“The issues around compensation have understandably been raised, we have not brought forward compensation as the money that is deducted from CalMac in terms of penalties and fines is reinvested back into the resilience of the network and we want that investment to continue to support resilience and help reduce future disruption.”
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