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Tugs plan offers short-term lifeline for Ferguson Marine shipyard

Calum WatsonBBC Scotland
News imagePA Media A worker wearing a red hard hat, high-visibility orange clothing and a navy jacket walks along a dockside in front of the vessel Glen Rosa. The words "GLEN ROSA" and "GLASGOW" are visible on the ship's hull in the background.PA Media
Ferguson Marine is in the final stages of completing MV Glen Rosa

The Ferguson Marine shipyard is to build a number of tugs while it awaits promised orders from the Scottish government.

Ministers agreed to provide financial backing for construction of the small vessels. The state-owned yard will then try to find a buyer.

BBC Scotland understands that the Port Glasgow firm will work with another established shipbuilder, possibly the Dutch firm Damen, on a pre-packaged design, allowing the work to start relatively quickly.

The announcement was criticised by opposition parties for being below expectations, after the SNP made a pre-election pledge for four new vessels for the yard.

Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn said the tugs would maintain vital workforce skills while officials continue the due diligence process on these orders.

Ferguson Marine is currently in the final stages of completing MV Glen Rosa, the second of two long-delayed Calmac ferries.

Delivery is currently scheduled before the end of the year and the firm has no other confirmed orders.

In a statement at Holyrood, Flynn said the tugs plan put forward by the firm's management was a "sensible" way of providing work in the interim.

News imageGetty Images Workers make final preparations ahead of the launch of the MV Glen Rosa in April 2024. Six workers can be seen in the foreground with their back to the camera. The white, black and red ferry, with Caledonian MacBrayne written on the side, is in the distance.Getty Images
The Port Glasgow yard is looking to make around a quarter of its workforce redundant

Recently it announced it was looking to shed about 70 jobs through voluntary redundancy - about a quarter of its total workforce.

In March, ministers announced plans to directly award the shipyard four new vessels - two fisheries ships and two small CalMac ferries but officials are still checking whether the plan complies with subsidy control laws.

Even if those orders were confirmed imminently, the yard would still face a lack of work because at least a year of design work would be required before it could start cutting steel.

But the announcement was criticised as being "painfully thin on detail" by Scottish Conservative MSP Stephen Kerr.

Kerr said it proved the four new vessels promised in March was "nothing more than a con made to the people of Inverclyde mere weeks before the election".

He said that with redundancy on the horizon, Flynn should be "pulling out all the stops to support the workforce at the yard they own".

Reform UK leader Malcolm Offord MSP said the tugs were "a thousand leagues from the expectations of Clyde shipbuilding".

"Stephen Flynn knows perfectly well that tugboats are no substitute for ferries and larger vessels," he said.

Scottish Labour MSP Neil Bibby said: "Months have passed since the SNP government promised to deliver contracts for the yard, but there are still waiting.

"Stephen Flynn must accept the urgency of the situation for islanders and workers and give a cast-iron commitment that he will deliver the promised contracts."

Scottish Lib Dem transport spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP accused the government of failing to "carry out appropriate legal checks" before announcing the awarding of a contract to the yard.

"The consequences are being felt by the third of the workforce who have lost their jobs as a result of the government's negligence," he said.