Forbes: Direct award of ferries to Ferguson could have been worst of both worlds

Directly awarding the contract for seven ferries to the publicly owned Ferguson Marine shipyard could have been “the worst of both worlds”, the Deputy First Minister has said.

Ferry procurement arm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) said on Monday that preferred bidder status for the new vessels – intended to serve Scotland’s smaller islands – would go to a Polish yard rather than the one in Port Glasgow, prompting concerns about its future.

The first phase of the small vessel replacement programme (SVRP) will see seven ferries built for shorter routes on Scotland’s west coast.

But when the programme was first announced, calls were made to directly award the contract to Ferguson, with the Scottish Government rejecting the move over fears it could end up in the courts.

Speaking in Holyrood on Tuesday – under questioning from Scottish Tory transport spokeswoman Sue Webber – Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “She will know that extensive analysis and legal advice indicated that a direct award of this current SVRP contract to Ferguson Marine would have introduced substantial risk, perhaps creating the worst of both worlds, where the boats do not get delivered to the islanders and Ferguson Marine do not get the contract because it ends up in the courts.

“That is what we have tried to avoid and why we agreed to open procurement.”

Ms Forbes pointed to the yard’s commercial strategy, saying: “The point here is that they have additional work coming, which we hope to be secured in April.

“There are other contracts that they are very hopeful of securing shortly, (yard chief financial officer) David Dishon referred to in his commentary yesterday and there are other opportunities around the SVRP phase two.”

The second phase of the programme will see a contract for three further vessels put out to tender later this year.

The yard has been criticised for its handling of the building of two late and over-budget ferries for the Isle of Arran: the Glen Sannox, which entered service earlier this year; and the Glen Rosa, which is due to be handed over in September.

Ms Forbes’s comments come after former Ferguson owner Jim McColl hit out at Cmal for the criticism the yard faced for the building of the two ferries and accused the Scottish Government of a “hatchet job” to divert attention from the procurement agency.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he said it was an “absolutely crying shame” that Ferguson Marine had missed out on the contract.

He said: “That yard is perfectly capable of building those ferries. You know, the first one that we built when we took over was the Catriona, which is about the same size, and it was delivered on budget, and six weeks early.

“The workforce are capable of it, and the yard is perfectly suitable for building these and competing against the Poles.”

Remontowa Shipbuilding in Gdansk scored the highest in the tender process for the seven new ferries.

Contracts are hoped to be finalised following a 10-day “standstill period”.