The continuing fiasco at a Port Glasgow shipyard is a stain on the reputation of Nicola Sturgeon’s government. Ferguson Marine was handed a lucrative contract to build two large CalMac ferries for a combined fixed cost of £97million.
Almost eight years later neither vessel is finished and the total bill is already north of £300million. The yard went bust in 2019 and had to be nationalised as it struggled to complete the ships to a novel design never used before.
The Scottish Government effectively ordered and paid for the ships through the state-owned CalMac operator. It now finds itself in the situation of also owning the shipyard where the ferries it ordered are repeatedly delayed.
