The struggling Clydeside shipyard, Ferguson Marine, which has been thrown a £14.2m lifeline by the Scottish Government led by the Scottish National Party, is to help win new orders, but the hopes of the workforce being handed CalMac’s next ferry contract for a fleet to serve Clyde and Hebrides have been dashed.
On Tuesday, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced that she had accepted the Scottish Government-owned Port Glasgow-based shipyard’s funding plea in full. But an order to build seven small double ended electric ferries at the shipyard, which was nationalised in 2019, for CalMac will instead be put out to competitive tender rather than be directly awarded to the yard downriver of Glasgow.
More The Scotsman has on the shipyard investment for phase 1 of the Small Vessels Replacement Programme which is to cost around £175 million and includes for port improvements and shore power upgrades.
In addition, the newspaper also reports on the separate topic to secure further work at BAE Systems for construction of additional Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy.