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Displaying items by tag: worth a fraction

Twin newbuild ferries that are delayed and overbudget at a shipyard in Scotland and which are to serve Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) could be worth a “fraction” of the £360m taxpayers have spent on them when they are finally completed, MSPs have been told.

Speaking on the newbuilds to operate on the west coast, Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton had raised concerns as Wellbeing Economy Secretary, Neil Gray updated the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood on the works carried out on the dual-fuelled powered newbuilds Glen Sannox (as above) and Glen Rosa.

The twins, each 102m in length are being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow for CalMac so to bolster its ageing fleet. The new ferries (with a reduced passenger capacity of under 1,000: see story) are set to go into operation on the Ardrossan-Brodick (Isle of Arran) route on the Forth of Clyde. 

Leadship Glen Sannox and newbuild no 105, Glen Rosa which in recent months was given a name, have been beset by issues which have seen multi-year delays and cost overruns. Combined this has put the cost of construction to £360m, compared with the initial £97m price tag when the contract was signed for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine diesel fuelled ferries.

STV News has more on the shipyard saga, as the ferries which were to have entered service in 2018.

Published in Shipyards

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.