Higher costs and fewer journeys: these ferries make no sense

The Herald Scotland

31-05-2025

Further, the current Type 23 will be in service for many years to come supporting and protecting our aircraft carriers.
Today, Business Editor Ian McConnell editor sets out to laud the Glen Sannox and her boost to the Arran economy ("Does 'ferry fiasco' vessel offer hope for Arran?", The Herald, May 30). The Caledonian Isles will return from Brigadoon soon, so we are told, and run from Ardrossan and so we have two mainland ports serving Arran with all the associated costs. Her design capacity is 1,000 passengers and 110 cars, and with five return journeys per day allows 10,000 and 1,110 passenger and vehicle journeys respectively.
When augmented by the MV Isle of Arran, whose design capacity is 448 passengers and 76 cars, this allows an additional 4,480 and 760 journeys respectively and a total of 14,480 passenger and 1,870 car journeys per day from Ardrossan.
The Glen Sannox is limited to 852 passengers with 127 cars. The higher capacity is not available in service because it can only do three of the longer Troon return journeys per day, allowing 5,112 and 762 respective journeys per day along with a 40 per cent increase in fuel burn, increased maintenance and running costs and the cost of an additional port giving massive and unnecessary overheads, all for the same capacity as the MV Isle of Arran.
As and when or if the MV Glen Rosa comes on service, those overheads double and 4,256 passenger and 346 vehicle journeys will be lost per day, as will the popular day trips for tourism or necessary mainland visits.
Apparently that is good business.
Peter Wright, West Kilbride.
• Stan Grodynski unfortunately continues to fail to understand the basic facts behind the Type 26 frigates, and the comparison to Arran's ferries, in his ongoing deflection from the SNP's total mishandling of Ferguson Marine.
Of course the Type 26 programme did begin in 1998 – with an evaluation phase. Unlike CalMac and the Scottish Government, the Ministry of Defence makes plans decades ahead to assess ship replacement programmes, with current plans under way for the Type 83 destroyer as replacement for the Type 45 and provisionally planned for around 2040. From 1998, the extensive planning stage led to a contract being awarded for the design of the Type 26 – itself a lengthy process –at the same time evaluating future overall fleet requirements, with the actual construction contract then awarded in 2017. The design of a complex warship understandably takes a little longer than that of a ferry. From construction contract award to delivery, it remains the simple fact that the Type 26 budget excess is 5% against Ferguson Marine's 670%. Additionally, the Global Combat Ship's design has also been sold to Australia and Canada for their construction of a further 24 vessels. I don't recall any other countries rushing to order 24 "Glen" ferries.
With regard to the aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth was ordered in 2007 with delivery due in 2015. Being commissioned in 2017 – two years late – her overrun is still five years fewer than that of the Glen Sannox. Her contract was initially costed at £4.1 billion, eventually rising to £6.2bn, an increase of around 50% in part attributable to delays caused by the global financial crisis, and including changes to the planned aircraft to be deployed – still considerably less than Ferguson Marine's 670%. Unlike the Glen Sannox, HMS Queen Elizabeth also has the added benefit of being able to fit into her home port.
Perhaps Mr Grodynski would acknowledge that an 80,000 tonne state of the art warship is a rather more complex build than a 1,200-tonne ferry.
Steph Johnson, Glasgow.
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Prized strengths of our MSPs
The supposed controversy over Scottish Labour's Hamilton candidate, Davy Russell, following a low profile ("Labour's by-election candidate denies he has hindered campaign", The Herald, May 29), rather raises the question: what do we want from our MSPs? Which strengths do we prize? Perhaps we should not expect individuals to be proficient in every dimension?
While the Scottish Parliament is about laying down well-worded and structured laws, there is clearly much more for MSPs than that. Serving the needs and tackling the problems of individuals and communities, for one. Organising a small team to respond to constituents, for two. Being open to ideas across party boundaries, influencing colleague MSPs and aware of what's going on in the country, for three. Contributing that knowledge and previous experience to debate whether in the chamber or on the 16 committees, also important. Increasingly, it feels that being grounded in the constituency can add great value to representation.
Appearing on television and speaking in public seem to me to be rather less important. And of course, the modern way – good regular use of social media – is an attribute.
I provided radio snippets on BBC Radio Scotland for 20 years and much preferred that medium to television because I could have my notes laid out in front of me, unseen. Could I have spoken well without notes on television? Possibly. Did I want to? No.
Philip Gaskell (Dr), Drymen.
• Question Time from Cheltenham (BBC1, May 29) had a distinctly cautious air about it. With the exception of politics blogger Ava Santina-Evans who tried (and failed) to stir controversy with bizarre remarks and facial expressions, the three politicians – Heidi Alexander (Lab), David Simmonds (Con) and Jess Brown-Fuller (Lib Dem) – and political commentator/journalist Tim Montgomerie all acquitted themselves well.
Their responses were waffle-free and well delivered. No talking over one another. It was as if a pre-arranged consensus had been agreed. Perhaps with the newly-arrived "spectre on the block" represented here by the loquacious Tim Montgomerie "own goals" were to be carefully avoided.
Apart from one impassioned tirade on the deteriorating Gaza conflict the panel were given an easy ride by a polite Cheltenham audience. Overall, not a memorable session. It does however confirm that political opponents can and should work for the common wealth of all. That augurs well in these troubled times.
Allan C Steele, Giffnock.
A penny for our NHS
Our NHS hits the headlines once again ("One in nine Scots face long waits for planned treatments on NHS", The Herald, May 28) and yet opposition parties jump up and down and engage in political point-scoring. Those same parties have been in charge of the NHS in other parts of the UK and have failed to come up with a solution to long waiting lists.There are no constructive ideas, no examples of better practice, only criticism which demoralises loyal and dedicated NHS staff.
There is no magic wand. We all need to take some responsibility for the system, for instance, by not missing appointments, using the fully-joined-up approach of considering a visit to the pharmacy first, taking pressure off other services further down the line.
NHS nurses and doctors in Scotland are the best-paid in the UK. The Scottish Government's latest accepted pay offer continues this theme with staff, including nurses, midwives, paramedics and porters, receiving a 4.25% pay rise this year, backdated to April 1, and a further 3.75% increase in 2026/27. This is the SNP recognising their dedication.
The Government has invested massive amounts in our NHS, yet services still demand more. Perhaps a tax increase of 1p in the pound ring-fenced for the health service is one to put on the table. This option would be more palatable here than UK Labour's approach of back door privatisation.
Catriona C Clark, Falkirk.
Trans question was valid
In his reply to Jane Lax's letter of May 29, Tim Hopkins, LGBTI campaigner and former CEO of Equality Network, seems to backhandedly accuse her of specifically transphobic discrimination (Letters, May 30). Why? Because, in essence, she asks a valid question about the use of debating time in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament and expresses criticism of the Presiding Officer's decision to allow a topic which many fellow voters in Scotland may deem not as pressing as, for example, issues around policing, transport, taxes and more.
Whether Mr Hopkins likes it or not, in a democracy this kind of questioning, expressed publicly, is not only allowed but also desirable. His whataboutism about disabled wheelchair users doesn't distract from that.
Regina Erich, Stonehaven.
• Tim Hopkins is always very keen to speak on behalf of the trans community, so I wonder if he could answer a simple question.
He writes to these columns claiming that toilet arrangements mean that trans people cannot visit or work in the Scottish Parliament with dignity and privacy, so can he please tell us what is undignified or non-private about using one of the gender-neutral toilets in that building? (I would also point out that using a toilet is not a very dignified process for any of us, necessity that it is.)
Peter Russell, Glasgow.
Davy Russell, Labour's candidate in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by election, campaigning with Angela Rayner on Thursday (Image: PA) Digital hang-ups
I was amused to see BT's full-page advertisements in The Herald this week. Our village has been connected to the fibre network so in November I called BT asking to be upgraded to Full Fibre. Although I called BT, I was advised that I would be going with EE as BT was becoming EE – are you following me so far? There was a period of four weeks when our 01786-numbered landline was now a 01360 number. When the 01786 number was reinstated, I could not call numbers within my area code for a week or so.
Four months and over seven hours of phone calls later, during which time I was speaking to either BT or EE all over the country, we are finally sorted. BT's advertisement states that we'll get protection from scams and nuisance calls although I haven't found that to be the case.
Steve Barnet, Gargunnock.
The Flying South African
Your photograph of the post-war resumption of the non-stop run of the Flying Scotsman train from Edinburgh to London ("Remember when … the Flying Scotsman went back into active service', The Herald, May 29) evokes memories of the age of steam-hauled rail travel. In this instance, the Flying Scotsman train was not hauled by the eponymous Gresley Class A3 Pacific which operated for British Railways under the number 60103. As the photograph depicts, the engine was number 60009, a Gresley Class A4 Pacific named Union of South Africa. Following withdrawal by British Railways in the 1960s, both engines were preserved.
Richard Dent, Bearsden.