Shipyard workers 'not to blame' for CalMac ferry fiasco as union calls for more orders to boost fleet
Shipyard workers are not to blame for the CalMac ferry fiasco and more new vessels are needed if services are to improve, a trade union has warned.
The GMB said Scotland's ageing maritime transport network needed to be substantially rebuilt to provide more reliable links to island communities.
The union represents workers at the Ferguson Marine yard in Port Glasgow which has been at the centre of a long-running political scandal involving the building of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries.
Only one of the boats has so far entered service and there is no firm completion date for the other. The wild cost overruns of their construction pushed Fergusons into the red and resulted with the yard being nationalised by the SNP Government in 2019.
Alex Logan, the union's convenor at the Port Glasgow shipyard, told delegates at the STUC conference today that Scotland's ferry system should be restructured.
He argued such a move is needed to protect island communities with Fergusons becoming 'a cornerstone of an industrial strategy to provide Scotland's publicly-owned ferry fleet.'
He said: 'There have been serious mistakes made with Rosa and Sannox but they were not made by the workers. Our yard has been building good ships for more 100 years and, with vision and ambition, we could be building them for 100 more.'
Fergusons failed to win a £175m contract for seven small CalMac ferries awarded to a Polish yard, Remontowa, last month despite the Scots yard building a third of CalMac's current 36-strong fleet.
Logan said: 'In an island nation like Scotland, why is a publicly owned yard not building ships for a publicly owned ferry company?
"Why are ministers in Edinburgh allowing contracts to be sent to Poland when they have a skilled, capable and committed workforce along the M8?
"It is absurd but only the latest example of how our public procurement system works. There is no joined up thinking on our ferries as politicians outsource decisions to unaccountable quangos where islanders and workers struggle to be heard.'
The West Coast ferry network is currently overseen by three organisations, Transport Scotland, acting for the Scottish Government, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), and CalMac but critics claim the system has failed to deliver for islanders or taxpayers.
GMB is calling for a review to establish if ferry operator CalMac should be merged with CMAL, which owns and commissions ferries and terminals, and take sole charge of the fleet while working closely with Fergusons to commission and deliver small ferries.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
9 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Higher costs and fewer journeys: these ferries make no sense
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. Read more letters 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 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.
The Independent
20 hours ago
- The Independent
Scottish Water staff plan seven-day strike after pay offer rejected
Scottish Water staff are to strike for another seven days after they rejected the latest pay offer. Workers represented by the GMB, Unite and Unison unions announced on Friday they have rejected a 3.4% pay increase, and will now take subsequent action 'to demand the fair deal they deserve'. Strikes will begin on Monday and will continue throughout the week, with the last day being Sunday June 8. It follows two prior days of industrial action in April. In a marginal majority, 51% of Unison workers employed by the water supplier voted to reject the pay offer, and 49% voted to accept. The turnout was 86%. GMB said 60% of its members voted against the offer, and 40% chose to accept, on a turnout of 78%. Unite's statistics were not available. Scottish Water said it had made a 'strong offer that is comfortably above inflation'. The upcoming strikes are expected to disrupt emergency repairs, testing and maintenance, and a joint union demonstration will take place outside Scottish Water's Shieldhall offices in Glasgow on Wednesday. Unison Scottish Water branch secretary Patricia McArthur said: 'Staff are extremely frustrated. They deserve better than game-playing by senior Scottish Water managers. 'The company seems more interested in spending public money on anti-union tactics than in finding a solution to this pay dispute. 'Its managers proposed a possible pay offer, but then retracted it, only to come up with something much worse.' Unison Scotland regional manager Simon Macfarlane added: 'The latest pay offer falls far short of what other public sector workers in Scotland have received. Scottish Water staff will now form picket lines across the country to demand the fair deal they deserve.' GMB Scotland accused Scottish Water bosses of making the strikes an inevitability after pay talks faltered. Claire Greer, GMB Scotland organiser in Scottish Water, has now written to Gillian Martin, the acting Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, detailing concern about the dispute. She said: 'Doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result is both the definition of madness and Scottish Water's idea of industrial relations. 'The company has allowed these negotiations to stumble on for months when a simple, transparent and fair pay offer would have been welcomed by our members and averted industrial action. 'Scottish Water's refusal to engage with negotiations in a serious and uncomplicated way has led us here and, unless that changes, the dispute will continue and industrial action will escalate.' Sam Ritchie, industrial officer for Unite, said: 'Unite's 500-strong membership at Scottish Water have overwhelmingly rejected the latest wage offer. It only amounted to an extra £250 over two years, which is unacceptable. ' Management also withdrew an offer to increase a performance-related bonus which could boost pay by a further £200, which has further infuriated the workforce. Over nine months Scottish Water has had the opportunity to make a fair and reasonable offer to our members, and they have consistently refused to do so. 'The chief executive, Alex Plant, has refused to become involved in pay negotiations while walking away with a publicly funded remuneration package totalling £483,000.' Scottish Water says it made the pay offer in line with the unions' recommendations. Chief operating officer Peter Farrer said: 'There is no need for next week's industrial action to go ahead. 'Scottish Water has made a strong offer that is comfortably above inflation. 'It is now time for the unions to come forward with a proposal that is fair for workers, customers, and the future of the business. 'We're ready to meet at any time this weekend. It is in everyone's interests to avoid next week's strike. 'If it goes ahead, those who take part in the industrial action will lose valuable wages and an essential service will be put under unnecessary pressure. 'In the meantime, we have robust plans in place to maintain essential services should the trade unions press ahead with their strike action.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Ministers have set out their policy in relation to public sector pay. 'It is a matter for Scottish Water and its Unions to agree a settlement within the constraints of that policy and affordability. 'The Scottish Government urges both parties to resume negotiations to find an agreement.'
Scottish Sun
a day ago
- Scottish Sun
Ryanair adds new flight from Scotland after axing five popular European routes
Plus, the full list of new Ryanair routes this summer revealed FLIGHT NEWS Ryanair adds new flight from Scotland after axing five popular European routes Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) RYANAIR has added a new route to its Scottish flight plan in time for a winter getaway - after it axed five routes to popular European destinations. Many holidaygoers will be planning to jet off for a holiday during the colder months for a nice break away. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The new route will fly from Edinburgh Airport Credit: Andrew Barr So the budget airline's news that direct flights will take off from Edinburgh to Rzeszów, in Poland, couldn't come at a better time. The new twice-weekly flights will operate on Mondays and Fridays, giving passengers the ideal excuse to travel before Christmas. The new service is set to launch on October 27, 2025, and experts say it will provide direct access to a region with a strong Polish community presence in the UK. Anton Radchenko, Aviation Expert and Founder of AirAdvisor, said the new route is "giving communities exactly what they need", adding that this is something that Ryanair is "quietly mastering". However, he warned that "passengers need to be cautious" because "seasonal or niche routes are the first to disappear if bookings fall short." The warning comes after the budget airline axed five routes from its Maastricht base, which is popular among British holidaymakers. Bosses at Ryanair said it came after the airport substantially increased costs, making it one of the most expensive airports in Europe. All flights to and from the airport, including routes to Alicante, Bari, Girona, Porto, and Zadar, are cancelled from October 26. Anton said: "Ryanair's route reshuffle sends two clear signals: regional airports in the UK are getting more love, while underperforming bases like Maastricht are being cut loose. "For UK passengers, this creates more direct options from places like Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Norwich, but also leaves them exposed to short-notice route cancellations. 'It's very important' - Ryanair's 'baggage sizers' warning to Irish passengers ahead of busy Easter break amid €75 fine "The launch of Edinburgh–Rzeszów may not make headlines like Rome or Barcelona, but it offers something Ryanair is quietly mastering: giving communities exactly what they need. "The VFR traffic here is strong, and the airline knows it. However, passengers need to be cautious because seasonal or niche routes are the first to disappear if bookings fall short. "What's important to remember is that when routes are cancelled more than 14 days in advance, passengers aren't eligible for compensation under EU261. "Only refunds or rerouting are guaranteed. And with other airlines like easyJet or Wizz Air already operating near capacity on similar routes, UK passengers could face price hikes and availability issues. "My top advice is to book early on new routes, watch for red flags on unpopular ones, and don't wait too long to rebook if your flight gets axed. "And always keep track of your rights: free meals, hotel accommodation, and airport transport are still owed for delays over two–four hours, depending on the flight length, even if compensation isn't.' Full list of new Ryanair routes this summer HERE is a full list of all the new Ryanair routes flying from the UK this summer: Aberdeen - Alicante (April) Aberdeen - Krakow (April 2) Bournemouth – Chania (June 1) Bournemouth – Fuerteventura (April 1) Bournemouth – Rhodes (June 4) Bristol – Toulouse (May 3) Edinburgh – Funchal (March 30) Glasgow – Malta (April 1) London Stansted – Bodrum (March 19) London Stansted – Clermont-Ferrand (April 20) London Stansted – Dalaman (June 2) London Stansted – Linz (March 24) London Stansted – Munster (May 20) London Stansted – Reggio Calabria (March 19) Manchester – Rabat (March) Manchester – Toulouse (March 31) Ryanair's CCO Jason McGuinness said: 'Ryanair is disappointed to announce the removal of all our flights to Maastricht Airport from 26 October 2025, which comes as a result of the Airport's excessive cost increases and the Dutch Govt's soaring aviation taxes of almost €30 per passenger, which have increased by +275% since 2021. "These significant cost increases make Maastricht Airport one of the most expensive airports in Europe and completely uncompetitive compared to other countries and low-cost airports elsewhere in Europe, who are reducing airport costs and abolishing aviation taxes to stimulate traffic recovery and growth. "Ryanair continues to grow traffic (this year from 200m to 206m) by offering unbeatable low fares to customers across Europe at airports that have low access costs. "Maastricht's sky-high costs are damaging its connectivity, as evidenced by the Airport's failure to recover its traffic post-Covid, lagging far behind the rest of Europe at just 50% of pre-Covid traffic in 2024 – a figure set to fall even further following Ryanair's exit.'
