Ferry firm 'surprised and unhappy' if yet more Glen Sannox faults found
Scottish Government company warns that any problems with sister ship Glen Rosa must be solved before completion
The Scottish government's ferry-buying arm said it would be "surprised and unhappy" if further faults were found with the year-old Arran ferry Glen Sannox as another CalMac vessel on the route broke down again.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) also told The Scotsman it would be "extremely disappointed" if any problems with Glen Sannox’s sister ship Glen Rosa were not solved before its expected completion by the end of the year.
Glen Sannox, which was completed by the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow six-and-a-half years late in November 2024, returned to service on the Troon-Brodick route last week after repairs to an engine problem.
That came hard on the heels of a three-month absence due to faults including a crack in its hull caused by vibrations from the propeller, which will have to be replaced as part of a £3.2 million warranty claim against the yard.
The ferry was operating increased sailings on Tuesday because 32-year-old Caledonian Isles was out of action, also because of an engine fault, forcing the suspension of all Ardrossan-Brodick sailings until at least Thursday.
CalMac said the ship, which was also out of action for an unprecedented 20 months until last September, had been taken to a yard in Greenock for repairs for a “mechanical overspeed” on its port [left] engine.
Its spokesperson said: “All being well, we expect her back on Thursday, though sailings remain on yellow alert.”
Meantime Cmal chief executive Kevin Hobbs said of Glen Sannox: “It’s probably abnormal for a ship to go in for its warranty dry dock and not re-emerge for three months.
“It is very unfortunate because the island communities rely on that vessel and they suffer as a result.”
Mr Hobbs said he “sincerely hoped” no further faults would be found with Glen Sannox.
But he added: “You never really know. But when you’ve had such a long period in dock dealing with the issues that you’ve found, I would be surprised and unhappy if there was a repeat of this [or further faults].”
Mr Hobbs said it wasn’t yet known whether the faults were due to ship’s design or how it was built.
He said he would be “extremely disappointed” if any faults with Glen Rosa were not caught before it was completed, but was confident of the latest cost projections which will see the final bill quadruple from the initial £100m contract for the two vessels.
He said: “You have a ‘lessons learned’ process all along the way and if you have got sister ships, if there’s anything found, it is incumbent on the operator [CalMac], the owner [Cmal] and the shipyard [Ferguson Marine] to identify that and make sure there isn’t a repeat on the next unit.
“If anything does go wrong in a similar fashion then lessons will not have been learned, but I would expect them to be learned.”
He said he was “confident as it stands” that Glen Rosa would be delivered by the end of the year - the most recent date given by the yard.
He said: “We have a credible delivery plan from the shipyard and it’s only if that starts missing milestones, such as running the main engines and sea trials [in the summer], we would have concerns.”
Ferguson Marine declined to comment.
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