Ferguson shipyard: Glen Sannox build costs rise by £20.5m

The shipyard said it faced extra costs correcting previous mistakes

The cost of building a long-delayed and overbudget CalMac ferry at the Ferguson shipyard has risen by a further £20.5m.

The yard's boss told MSPs that issues with securing regulator approval meant the planned delivery date could also slip again, into next year.

David Tydeman said the shipyard was continuing to discover problems arising from past design or build mistakes.

The final cost of building Glen Sannox and its sister ship Hull 802 will now be more than £300m.

The two ships were meant to cost £97m and be delivered in 2018 under the terms of the contract signed nearly eight years ago.

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But the project has been blighted by design issues and an acrimonious dispute between former yard owner Jim McColl and government-owned ferries procurement agency CMAL, who blame each other for the problems.

Mr Tydeman, who took over in February last year, believes mistakes continued to be made after the Port Glasgow shipyard was nationalised in 2019.

In his latest update to MSPs, he said the yard had been forced to carry out a large amount of re-work on Glen Sannox to correct previous mistakes.

Some previously fitted pipework had to be replaced because it did not meet the specification

This included replacing equipment and pipework that did not meet the specification and modifying steelwork because the design or equipment had changed.

His estimate for the cost of completing Glen Sannox - over and above the amount paid out before nationalisation - has now risen from £97.5m to £118m, including contingency funding.

Costs have also risen for Hull 802, but Mr Tydeman hopes to claw those back by applying lessons learned during construction of the first ship.

Mr Tydeman also revealed that new issues had surfaced this month with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) which issues safety certificates for ships in the UK. He will update MSPs on the implications of this over the next month.

A planned few days in dry dock for Glen Sannox expected in September has been re-scheduled for December, and he cast doubt on whether Glen Sannox could now be delivered by the end of the year.

"It's clear and regrettable, that having 100% confidence in the delivery date for Glen Sannox will remain a challenge monthly as we progress through commissioning, snagging and handover trials during the rest of the year," he wrote.

'Extremely disappointed'

Glen Sannox and Hull 802 are the first dual-fuel ferries to built in the UK capable of running on both conventional marine gas oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The LNG systems have yet to be commissioned, and a decision has still to be made on where the LNG fuel - which must be kept at minus 170C - can be safely loaded on to the ship.

Once handed over to CMAL, the ferry operator CalMac will need conduct its own trials, but Mr Tydeman said he believed the ship could still be operational in the spring of 2024. The ship is due to enter service on CalMac's busy Arran route.

Wellbeing Economy Secretary Neil Gray said he was "extremely disappointed" by the latest cost increase, but said the government would continue to fund the build because it was in the interests of island communities and the economy of Port Glasgow.

He added: "I have made it repeatedly clear that I expect the management of FMPG [Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow] do everything possible to minimise costs and ensure that these vessels enter service as soon as possible."

The Scottish Conservatives said the cost to the public purse of the two ships, once two largely written-off loans totalling £45m were added in, was now approaching £360m.

Transport spokesman Graham Simpson said: "To add insult to injury, it now appears delivering the Glen Sannox by the end of the year is a 'challenge' so we're looking at yet another intolerable delay."