In Scotland, the taxpayer is footing an £11,760 a day bill to charter an emergency ferry from an Isle of Man government-owned company.

As HeraldScotland.com writes, the charter is to help support (CalMac's) beleaguered fleet and help maintain lifeline passenger and freight services.

The charter of MV Arrow - which was out of service for 10 days after needing a repair - is costing the state-owned ferry operator CalMac an "eye-watering" £588,000 for seven weeks.

More from the Herald here on the charter of the freighter running between the mainland port of Ullapool that links Stornoway, Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles.

Afloat adds the ro-ro vessel is sub-chartered from the Isle of Man Steam Packet and according to CalMac's website, the MV Arrow is operated by Seatruck on behalf of CalMac to provide a dedicated freight service up to 7 September.

Arrow will deliver MV Loch Seaforth’s evening freight sailing six days a week and the latter ferry will also operate two additional passenger sailings per week.

The Arrow since 2014 has been chartered on long-term from Seatruck, the ro-ro freight operator of three Irish Sea routes. The freighter acts as a reserve/back up vessel for the Steam-Packet when support is required to boost ferry capacity between Douglas and Heysham, England.

Other sub-charters have led Arrow to include another Scottish service, Serco-Northlink, where last summer the freighter ran aground in Aberdeen Harbour following a crossing from Lerwick on the Shetland Isles.

Shipyard Ferguson Marine which is owned by the Scottish Government, has ploughed nearly £3m into two companies without going to competitive tender to help resolve the fiasco over the delivery of two new (island) lifeline ferries, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.

A £2.12m contract has been given to an offshore company to complete even more design changes for one long delayed vessel due to service Scotland's busiest ferry crossing which Afloat.ie adds is to the Isle of Arran, where the 'year-round' operated Ardrossan-Brodick route is the nearest CalMac crossing to N.Ireland.

The taxpayer-funded award has been made to Isle of Man-based International Contract Engineering Ltd to supply engineering servies for the stalled construction of MV Glenn Sannox to "correct and complete" the design.

The Isle of Man, a self-governing territory that is part of the British Crown but enjoys separate autonomy, since its days as an Edwardian seaside resort has more recently has been accused of selling companies' escape from taxes and transparency.

Details of the taxpayer spend comes after it emerged £777,500 was given to Kirkintilloch-based Alliance Project Controls Ltd to supervise the construction work. That contract also did not go out to competitive tender.

For further reading on this ongoing shipyard saga story click here.