IT “took an obscene amount of time” for the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries to be built for CalMac, Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn has conceded.
However, Flynn said the Scottish Government had made “huge investment” in a bid to transform the fleet for the publicly owned operator, which runs ferry services across the Western Isles.
Flynn said that the Glen Rosa – the second ship being built for CalMac by the Ferguson Marine shipyard on the Clyde – is due to be delivered later this year, while the second of two ferries being built in Turkey is also due to be completed soon.
With the Scottish Government having also pledged seven smaller vessels, when all the ships are completed a third of CalMac’s fleet will have been replaced, the Transport Secretary said.
However, speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, he said that “two specific examples” – the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa – had taken “an obscene amount of time”.
Ordered back in 2015, the two ferries will cost more than three times the original £97 million budget, with the Glen Sannox delivered some six and a half years late.
Sister ship the Glen Rosa meanwhile is due to be delivered in the final quarter of this year, and will be more than eight years late.
With CalMac struggling with an ageing fleet, Flynn said that there “wasn’t a sufficient service for folk who just wanted to get from A to B on the ferry network”.
He spoke out about the difficulties with the ferry services at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, saying one of his first visits after being made Transport Secretary in May was to the Western Isles to “speak with the folk who live there who experience it every day”.
He added: “I wanted to go there and hear from them directly because I am not afraid of difficult discussions.
“I think they valued that.”
However, he insisted the Scottish Government had put “huge investment” into improving the CalMac fleet.
As well as the Glen Rosa being “almost at completion”, Flynn said the second of four ferries being built in Turkey was almost finished.
In addition to the two further ferries that are being built at the Cemre yard, Flynn said there were “seven small vessels that are going to come as well”.
Speaking about the new vessels, he insisted: “We will be delivering that in a very short period of time.
“A third of the fleet is going to be brand new, which means you are not going to have so many ships breaking down, which will completely change the landscape.”
