Latest news with #JimMcColl
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
I do not share Kenny MacAskill's optimism about Ferguson yard
The shipyard in question is of course Fergusons of Port Glasgow, which is currently trying to complete the ferry Glen Rosa. Kenny suggests that yet another change of management is the solution to the long-term problems of the yard and the return of Jim McColl is perhaps called for. I do not know if Mr McColl has been consulted on this matter but it would be a brave (some might say foolish) move if he were to accept this considerable challenge. READ MORE: Ardrossan Harbour deal 'far from complete', campaigners claim My late father and two uncles worked in another Clyde shipyard, now long gone, in the 1960s and I feel some sympathy for the Port Glasgow workforce – but none for CalMac, CMAL, the various well-rewarded management teams who have come and gone and the politicians who have presided over this national embarrassment. Kenny is to be praised for his optimistic hope that the yard will find other work in the future but it is all too easy for future clients to take into account the events of the past few years. If Kenny's next-door neighbour commissioned a builder to build an extension to his home on the basis of a cost of, for example, £50,000 and a timescale of a year, would he commission the same builder to build a similar extension to his own home if the neighbour's costs had risen to £250,000 and the extension was still not complete after nearly nine years? Work began on the Glen Rosa in June 2016. It is a real shame that Scotland's local authorities, health boards and housing associations do not have the same free and unlimited access to the Scottish Government's bank accounts that is enjoyed by Fergusons. The almost £500,000,000 splashed out (pun very much intended) on two medium-sized ferries could have had a major impact on our NHS waiting lists, relieving the long-term pain and suffering of thousands of our fellow citizens. Perhaps some of the money could have been used to provide decent social housing for some of the 33,916 households and 10,360 children currently homeless in our land. READ MORE: ScotRail must stop using my voice for AI announcements, voiceover artist demands Much, I assume, to the discomfort and embarrassment of our government, it now appears that the Glen Rosa will not carry a single passenger before the May 2026 Scottish Parliament elections. Assorted Unionist politicians will make the most of this situation – and who can blame them. The cost to complete the Glen Rosa is now apparently, at the very least, another £35,000,000 with no real guarantee that this will be enough to complete all the work required. In late November 2022, Audit Scotland announced that it was unable to account for £128.25 million in public money spent by Fergusons on the ferries. Furthermore, it was unable to trace how a £30m Scottish Government loan to Ferguson was spent. For a comparison, the RMS Titanic's construction cost was £1,500,000, which is around £180,000,000 in today's money. It only took around three years to build. It weighed in at around 50,000 tonnes. The Glen Rosa weighs only around 3000 tonnes – about 16 times smaller. These and many other factors will be taken into account when we come to place our marks on the two Scottish Parliament ballot papers in under a year's time. Taken together with the SNP's absence of a clear path to independence, the outcome is far from certain. Sandra West Dundee
The National
4 days ago
- Business
- The National
It's time for McColl to be given another crack at Ferguson Marine
For storm clouds are yet again gathering over the last shipyard on the Lower Clyde. Yet, it just shouldn't be so. It is only just over a decade since all seemed secured when Jim McColl took over the yard. Rightly, that was universally welcomed, and the future looked bright. After all, Scotland is a nation with numerous islands and archipelagos requiring ships and ferries, not for a cruise but for literally lifeline services – upon which communities depend for their very existence. Meanwhile, the Clyde was synonymous with shipbuilding on its upper and lower banks. READ MORE: Man charged following crossbow incident at Glasgow hospital Clydebank was formed from the expansion of yards on the Upper Clyde. On the Lower Clyde, not just Fergusons but Scott Lithgow further down the river in Greenock were the bedrock of the towns. Fergusons shutting down would be devastating in an area already challenged by unemployment and deprivation. Building the ships our communities need in yards with a heritage and skill base was frankly a no-brainer. McColl intended to not just secure the yard but expand into other sites on the river as work increased. The age of the CalMac fleet, with repeated breakdowns, means there will be new orders year after year for decades to come. Then those being built will need replaced and on it should go. The construction and servicing of offshore wind requires ships and boats. Are we really going to see them built abroad as is shamefully happening with the bulk of the turbines being installed? Is this to be yet another aspect of an unjust transition? We need ferries and boats, we need the industrial and skills base, and we need the work from our renewables. But there has been a catalogue of failures and McColl was supplanted at Fergusons by the Scottish Government. The situation has worsened and the future looks grim. The yard has struggled with the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa and the order book beyond the latter is empty. There needs to be an inquiry into what has gone wrong. Millions have been wasted, the delays are inexplicable and the budget overrun criminal. But none of that is the fault of those who work on the ferries or indeed in the yard. Instead, it's down to catastrophic failures by those in charge and it's costing us all a fortune given the level of state financial support required. The wrong organisation was put in charge of procurement, the wrong ferries were acquired, and the wrong people are now trying to sort things. Ferries owner CMAL should be abolished –it's a quango too far and its actions have been catastrophic. Let CalMac decide what ships it wants. The dual fuel LNG/marine diesel model was absurd and lies at the heart of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa failures. What the future holds for those ships, who knows, but other vessels needed for our country will not be using that frankly ludicrous design. The contract was also signed off on the direct instructions of the Scottish Government without the full terms being agreed. Hence the costs increased as problems and aspects not factored in arose. Now a Fergusons board which I would say lacks knowledge and experience is presiding over a revolving door of CEOs, all paid off at huge expense, while the ratio of suits in the offices to workers in overalls is ridiculously out of kilter. So, what needs to be done? Lease in vessels from wherever to address the immediate needs for vulnerable communities. But at the same time ensure that future orders for the CalMac fleet go to Fergusons, not to Turkey or the Mersey as with recent ones. Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has rightly announced a direct award to CalMac for operating the service and it should do likewise with Fergusons for building them. That would provide the vessels for the communities which need them and the work for the yard that equally requires it. But there also needs to be a change in management at the yard. There's been something wrong there and it's not with the skills of the workers. Maybe it's time to go back to the future. Lease or sell the yard to McColl again and let him have another go at joining the dots between what Scottish island communities need and the work Scottish shipbuilding towns require. It's not rocket science but part of keeping an industrial base in our country, especially when skilled work is being lost in the North Sea and at Grangemouth. McColl has a track record of success in his business ventures – the failings at Ferguson Marine fundamentally rest with others – and, most importantly, he has a vision of what we need for our country and communities. What was right before remains so today. We need ferries, we need shipbuilding, and we need an industrial base not just to be a theme park or cruise liner destination. Sort out the management but save the yard.
The Herald Scotland
21-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
£750 million spent on the ferries fiasco? Yes, and the rest...
Jim McColl bought the buildings and land at Ferguson's for £1.625m and put them into a separate company such that on the triumphant announcement of the nationalisation of the shipyard by the hapless Derek Mackay it did not own the land and buildings; all he had nationalised was a heap of scrap steel. The Scottish Government then had to set up a company to obfuscate the purchase of those assets and the cost is also hidden. I somehow think it was cost-plus, shall we guess £10m? Then there is the cost of acquiring Ardrossan harbour for which CalMac continues to pay rent from Peel Ports, a company not known for its philanthropy. Ardrossan will then need to be upgraded. Total cost? I don't think £150m will be too far from realistic. Then we add the additional rental and use of Troon Harbour owned by Associated British Ports, which spent £6m upgrading fendering and parking facilities. This charge will continue until Ardrossan Harbour is completed in, optimistically, five years. £5m per annum? Let's add £25m. And of course the ubiquitous Alfred, the catamaran that performs economically and reliably and which the customers love despite CMAL's absolute denial of suitability as a form of marine transport. £1m per month, three years' rental awaiting the completion of the Glen Rosa, £36m, which is incidentally two and a half times her construction cost. Then we can add the extra cost of fuel and wear and tear due to the increased route length of using Troon instead of Ardrossan and the reduced income due to the decreased number of passenger and vehicle journeys available over five years, shall we say £20m? So add to the £750m, £31+10+150+36+20m and we have a real cost of £997m, not quite a billion but I am sure they will get there. Where did all this money go? No Scottish Government member seems interested. But at least we are saved, as "the Scottish Government is currently doing due diligence over the further request for taxpayer backing". Well, that's OK then. Peter Wright, West Kilbride. Read more letters Little sympathy for fishing sector I used to have sympathy with Scottish fishermen who risked their lives to put food on our tables. However that has progressively diminished over the years. Revelations about quotas being deliberately ignored and black fish landed in order to maximise income together with rising instances of drug abuse amongst fishermen due to the money being made changed my view. Now they are calling the deal with the EU which keeps quotas as they are for the next 12 years "a capitulation" ("Starmer hails new EU deal that 'turns page' on Brexit", The Herald, May 20). They demand annual negotiations instead. There appears to be an assumption that EU quotas will continue to be reduced annually and that this will eventually give them control of fishing in the UK waters. But a reduced EU quota simply means the rest of us have to suffer higher costs elsewhere as a consequence of their intransigence. What really antagonises me however is to learn that nearly 20% of the catch from UK waters is not even landed in Scotland. Our fishermen can get better prices in Denmark and Norway so they go there. That means that we pay more for what fish is landed here whilst Scottish fish processing workers' jobs are put at risk as a direct consequence. Whilst Scottish fishermen strongly supported Brexit they were the first to complain about being excluded from Norwegian waters as a consequence. That's because the EU had negotiated access for its member states in exchange for reducing tariffs on Norwegian exports. In other words they voted to make themselves worse off. So why are these same fishermen now getting £360 million of support from the taxpayer to help keep them in a job? Last week the same fishermen's organisations were complaining that new visa restrictions just announced would further jeopardise their industry because they employ cheap foreign labour (31% of the fleet) who in many cases do not speak good English. In an industry as dangerous as fishing I would have thought that the ability to understand instructions was a prerequisite. But as always it appears money is the overriding criterion. Last year a BBC documentary revealed that many of these foreign workers were being paid below the minimum wage and were working in dangerous and unsafe conditions. Yet no boat owner has ever been prosecuted. To this can be added their opposition to marine protected areas whilst some indulge in illegal scallop dredging in those areas that are protected. Then there is the French discovery last week of steroid contamination in Scottish farmed salmon where pens are already damaging the environment and putting wild salmon stocks at risk. Perhaps you can therefore understand why my support for the fishing industry has almost completely evaporated. Robert Menzies, Falkirk. Submissive Starmer Various words have been used to describe the supposed 'deal' that Sir Keir Starmer has negotiated with the EU such as 'humiliation' and 'capitulation". However one might add 'submissiveness' to that list. Is it not somewhat ironic that in this 80th anniversary year of VE Day, he concedes to Europe (and in particular to France) on almost every aspect of the deal and in particular, the betrayal of our fishing industry? The Prime Minister lauds his 'deal' and yet cannot detail what the UK will pay to access the EU Defence Fund nor the costs nor the detail around how we align to the food standards system. This country will fall under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in addition to the European Court of Human Rights. The UK will have absolutely no input into the laws and structures of such courts. Can one imagine the likes of the USA or Canada or Australia or Japan becoming subservient to foreign courts? Whether one agreed with Brexit or not, there is little doubt that this deal undermines our sovereignty and our ability to control our own destiny. The likes of President Macron, Chancellor Merz and Ursula von der Leyen will have huge smiles, if not smirks, on their faces following this 'deal'. Richard Allison, Edinburgh. Keir Starmer with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (Image: PA) Now show some backbone Keir Starmer's reset with the EU has been characterised by the usual suspects as a betrayal of Brexit. If events were looked at dispassionately, it would be seen clearly that Brexit was the betrayal. Boris Johnson's battle bus had emblazoned on its sides one of the major fibs about the fresh funding for the NHS awaiting it once we left the EU. That campaign with its clarion call to restore sovereignty and control to the UK Parliament turned the heads of a disaffected electorate. That disaffection had been fuelled by the growth in inequality and the decline in smart regulation which left the general public clinging on to a raft of failing public services. It was no wonder they jumped to join the bandwagon only to find out too late, once our departure from the EU was done and dusted, that they were riding on tumbrels heading towards the economic guillotine. Now the plain unvarnished truth is there for all to see and the Government is trying to find some way to bring us back down to earth to face the reality of what has transpired since 2016. Sadly it is making slow progress out of fear of an adverse political reaction which could seriously jeopardise its re-election prospects. It is time the Government showed its backbone and declared that our future rests entirely on rejoining the EU where we will have strength in numbers and a strong voice in the decisions and development of the EU. That is the vision the country needs – to see a government ready to face down its critics whose agenda is to achieve a small state with low taxation and services barely at the safety net level. Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.
Daily Record
13-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Glen Rosa delayed again as SNP Government ferry fiasco drags on for another year
The Glen Rosa was supposed to be launched in 2018 and enter service the following year but has been subject to repeated delays. The shipyard at the centre of the one biggest scandals of the devolution era has announced another delay in the competition of a long-awaited car ferry. Ferguson Marine, which was nationalised by SNP ministers in 2019, said it would not be able to complete the Glen Rosa until the second quarter of 2026. The ferry was supposed to be launched in 2018 and enter service for Caledonian Macbrayne the following year on the Troon - Arran route. Bosses at the Port Glasgow shipyard said the final bill will be £185m - up from the last estimate for £150m. Glen Sannox, the sister ferry of Glen Rosa, finally entered service earlier this year after suffering similar delays. The decision by SNP ministers in 2015 to award the contract to build the two ferries to Ferguson Marine has been repeatedly questioned in the decade since. The yard was saved from collapse by billionaire Jim McColl in 2014 but it collapsed into administration five years later with work on the ferries already hugely delayed. Former Babcock chief executive Graeme Thomson joined Ferguson Marine as its new chief executive in March. 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. 'We apologise unreservedly to islanders for this additional delay and want to assure everyone that we are working extremely hard to deliver a quality vessel that showcases the skill and experience of Clydebuilt ships." Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: "This latest delay is another hammer blow to Scotland's islanders, who will be utterly livid at this bad news. "The severe delay announced is beyond anything expected and now raises serious questions for Scottish ministers. "The MV Glen Rosa should have been delivered back in 2018, now islanders might have to wait until after the next Scottish Parliament election before this vessel enters service, which is a disgrace. "The hard-working staff at Ferguson Marine have been let down by bosses, all paid huge sums of public cash, yet islanders are still waiting on their ferries. Not a single SNP minister has lost their job over this fiasco. "We demand an urgent statement to Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport to explain this enormous delay."
The Herald Scotland
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Letters: Schools system treats parents as inconvenient idiots
The Govean revolution in England saw the expansion of educational choice that has propelled their schools into a premier league of achievement. We, however, are stuck with a failing model that demoralises teachers, treats parents like inconvenient idiots, and operates a progressive teaching system that by its own admission fails to teach. The only solution is to break open the Scottish education system, take power away from the bureaucrats, and hand it over to the parents. It remains to be seen if Reform UK Scotland adopts education policies that create the means for teachers, parents and pupils to break out from the subservience of local authority control. The creation of free schools and academies would create not only new opportunities for teachers and pupils alike but done properly would redistribute power out of the hands of the system and into the hands of parents and the wider local community. The creation of junior colleges along the lines of that established in Newlands by Jim McColl would provide new opportunities for those children that the educational establishment have managed to alienate to the point of disengagement. A radical platform such as this will undoubtedly incur the wrath of the entire blob. Trade union leaders, politicians and journalists will fall over themselves to denounce the proponents of such ideas as fascists. There is, however, another 'f' word that's far more apposite. One which an increasing number of Scots have had a bellyful: that 'f' word is failure. Whether it's transport, health or education the leftwing consensus has failed on every conceivable metric. The Scottish education system has failed teachers. It has failed pupils. And, as McEnaney and Stell's article clearly demonstrates, it fails parents. This failed system doesn't just need a warning, or a mildly annoying period of detention: only its permanent exclusion will now stop the rot. James McEnaney might not like the means, but Reform UK Scotland is the only serious political party in Scotland with the chutzpah and the capabilities to tell the education system the lesson it needs to hear. It is the only party vying for power in Holyrood that can correct the multitudinous errors of the current, failed system. Graeme Arnott, Stewarton. A flood of happy memories I was delighted to read ('Second World War papers found hidden in desk bought at auction', May 8) of the finding of wartime documents in a desk of the late Ian B Rodger, a well-known Glasgow lawyer and an Army captain during the arduous invasion of Italy. In peacetime Sir Alexander Gibson, councillor Ainslie Millar and Ian founded Scottish Opera with its first performances in the King's Theatre, Glasgow in 1962. In the mid-1970s the new company, being highly successful with between eight and 10 large-scale operas every year in numerous performances in Scotland and England, were supported by the public in buying and fully restoring the Theatre Royal in Hope Street under the chairmanship of Gavin Boyd - the building now redundant to Scottish Television. When I was writing a book about the Theatre Royal, Ian Rodger told me that his war ended in Venice, many months after the liberation of Rome from the Italian fascists and German Nazis. I don't know whether he was already an opera fan, but he certainly was in Venice, the home of opera. In 1975 he insisted that flagstones be used throughout the main entrance foyer of the Royal. This is what Venetian opera houses did so that any rising waters overwhelming the entrances could be easily brushed away and the show continue. With a smile he added that if the Clyde ever floods up Hope Street it would be easy to sweep the water away. Graeme Smith, Newton Mearns, Glasgow. The horrors of Belsen When my father was a boy, he used to go poaching with an older person in the village. When he returned as a doctor years later, he was invited by the 'gentry' to join in shooting and fishing. He was a member of the local Territorials and received his call-up when he was fitting gas masks on the children in the school at the very start of the war. He was in the 174th Highland Field Ambulance, which was part of the re-formed 51st Highland Division and served on the front line, and he was in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) through the North Africa campaign and from Normandy through Europe, ending up in the horrors of Belsen, and by now working with the 38th Casualty Clearing Station. By this time, he had won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the OBE and was a Lieutenant Colonel — later, he was made a full Colonel. Like many others, he spoke little about his war-time experiences, coming back quietly to civilian life. He never touched a gun. Dorothy Dennis, Port Ellen, Islay. Screening Trump's madness for method If The Donald goes ahead with imposing tariffs on films made outwith the USA, then this country will inevitably be deprived of all those Yankee dollars that Screen Scotland spends most of its time chasing. However, might the consequences of this Trumpian policy mean that we'll have to make more Scottish films? Jings, crivvens, help ma boab! Heaven forfend! I knew there was method in that Lewisman's madness. Gaun' yersel Donald! Hamish McBean, Glasgow. A fond farewell to Ron I would like to send my thanks to Ron Mackenna for all the enjoyment his restaurant reviews have given me over many years. They were the 'go-to' page for me. Good wishes for the future, Ron. Irene Burn, Netherlee, Glasgow.
