#FerryBids - Final bids have been submitted writes STV News in the tendering process for the £1bn Clyde and Hebrides ferry services.

Publicly owned Calmac is competing with UK ferry firm Serco for the eight-year contract to operate ferries on 26 routes covering the west coast of Scotland. Both firms submitted initial tenders to the Scottish Government in December.

They were the only companies which applied to bid for the contract, despite the government extending the usual six-year deal to eight years.

West coast ferries are currently operated by Calmac but Serco won the contract for sailings to Shetland and Orkney in 2012. The west coast contract will be awarded in May 2016 and take effect in October. To read more, click here.

Afloat adds, CalMac's flagship Loch Seaforth (as pictured above) carried out sea trials in the Irish Sea and as far south off Wicklow Head in 2014.