New revelation about Glen Sannox ferry delay is the best one yet
The Glen Sannox ferry seems determined to remain in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons
It was only last week that we were tearfully bemoaning the loss to satire represented by the final completion of the massively over-budget and ridiculously late Glen Sannox ferry. However, it seems it’s the gift that just keeps on giving.
Turns out that one of the many, many delays occurred – in October, just weeks before the handover to ferry operator Calmac – after it was discovered that one of the anchors kept slipping. “We could get it down, but we weren’t sure we could get it back up again,” John Petticrew, the interim chief executive of state-owned shipyard Ferguson Marine, revealed.
So it wasn’t a problem with the complicated dual-fuel engine or some other piece of desperately modern technology but an anchor – a device that dates back at least 3,400 years to Ancient Egypt. As delay stories go, this is the best one yet.
That the fault was discovered so late also seems a touch worrying. We’re no experts, but it feels like the basics of boat-building include ensuring that a, it floats and b, the anchor and engine (aka stop and go) actually work.
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