Ferguson shipyard confirms new delay for CalMac ferry Glen Rosa
The delivery date for MV Glen Rosa, the second of two dual-fuel CalMac ferries being built by the nationalised Ferguson shipyard, has been put back by up to nine months. The cost of the ship has also risen - by up to £35m - meaning the two ships will cost upwards of £460m, more than four and a half times the original contracted price. Ferguson Marine said it now expected Glen Rosa to be "substantially complete" in the first quarter of 2026, with delivery taking place between May and June. The ship, which is to serve CalMac's Arran route, was originally due for delivery in July 2018.
MV Glen Rosa was launched from the Ferguson slipway in Port Glasgow a year ago in a far more finished state than its identical sister ship MV Glen Sannox seven years earlier. While there was much "fitting out" work still to be done, including specialist cryogenic pipework for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) engines, it was hoped it could be delivered by the end of September this year.
Ferguson Marine's newly-appointed permanent chief executive Graeme Thomson confirmed this would no longer be possible and apologised "unreservedly" to islanders. He said: "This is not the announcement we wanted to be making at this stage and cannot overstate our understanding of the importance of providing realistic handover schedules to support CalMac to provide a more reliable and robust service to the communities it serves."No one wants to see the swift delivery of MV Glen Rosa more than Ferguson Marine and we are committed to working hard to ensure the vessel is delivered within this window."
The update gave no detailed reasons but BBC Scotland News understands there have been knock-on impacts from delays in the construction of the previous ship. Glen Sannox was finally delivered to its owner, ferries procurement body CMAL, last November after a number of late stage complications with the specialist LNG pipework and commissioning of the engine systems. Sources at the shipyard said significant resources had to be diverted from Glen Rosa in order get Glen Sannox into service.
In an update letter to MSPs, Mr Thomson said the cost to complete the vessel would rise from £150m to £172.5 plus a further £125m for contingencies - taking the forecasted cost to £185m. Glen Sannox was completed for about £150m but these figure do not include £83m paid out prior to nationalisation, or £45m of government loans that were subsequently written down.Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, the first LNG-powered ferries ever built by a UK shipyard, were both meant to come into service in 2018. But design challenges and disputes between the shipyard's former owners and government-owned ferries body CMAL led to a stand-off over claims for extra costs. The stalemate eventually resulted in Ferguson's going into administration and being taken into state ownership in 2019. Problems continued after nationalisation with further delays and soaring costs.
MV Glen Sannox is now in service on CalMac's Arran route, but the state-owned operator remains under pressure as it awaits the arrival of new replacement vessels for its ageing fleet. Four other large ferries under construction in Turkey are also delayed with the first of them, MV Isle of Islay, due for delivery later this summer.
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