Exclusive:Starter motor among major parts stripped from Glen Rosa ferry as new uncertainty emerges over completion

The growing doubts that Glen Rosa will meet its latest September delivery deadline came as it was revealed 16 major parts were taken from the vessel to complete its sister ship Glen Sannox, including a starter motor and various pumps.

The Port Glasgow yard’s interim chief executive John Petticrew admitted to The Scotsman that its delivery plan review for Glen Rosa was taking “longer than anticipated” to produce a “final estimated completion date”.

The Scottish Conservatives said the lack of an update would “spark serious concerns”, while Scottish Labour said the “astonishing revelations” showed the “scale of chaos”.

The ferry - like Glen Sannox - should have been finished nearly seven years ago and is expected to cost some four times its contract price at around £200 million. It was launched in April last year.

The vessel is due to join its sister ship on CalMac’s main Arran route to Brodick - the busiest on the operator’s network. Glen Sannox entered service on the link from Troon last month after being delivered in November.

In December, Ferguson Marine told the Scottish Parliament’s net zero, energy and transport committee (NZET), which is scrutinising the ferry project, that it expected to issue a progress update on Friday last week - a day after a revised plan was due to be approved by the yard’s board.

It said the plan would include a final date and cost for completing Glen Rosa after “various scenarios” were worked on, with lessons learned from the construction of Glen Sannox being incorporated.

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Scottish Government ferry owning firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) has told the committee the major parts taken from Glen Rosa also included a port auxiliary pilot pump, a fuel circulation pump, a marine gas oil circulating pump, grey water pumps, a variable frequency drive from a winch/windlass, an engine telegraph and a navigation light controller. It said all the equipment would be repaired or replaced.

Cmal chief executive Kevin Hobbs said: “Glen Rosa has not been denuded of all of its equipment. It’s just the odd piece of machinery that hasn’t worked properly. As opposed to waiting a further amount of time to get a new one manufactured, if you’ve got one on the other ship which is serviceable and works, it makes sense to be able to transfer it so that vessel can enter service as quickly as it can.”

Mr Petticrew told The Scotsman: “No one wants to see the swift and safe delivery of Glen Rosa more than Ferguson Marine and work is progressing on the vessel at pace as we speak.

“We did everything in our power to complete the work on Glen Sannox as quickly as possible, with events outside our control contributing to the delay in her delivery.

“To mitigate the risk of further delays, we reallocated members of the team and utilised some parts from Glen Rosa for use on Glen Sannox, directing our resource most efficiently and removing the need to wait for repairs or replacement parts.

“This is standard practice for all shipyards. It was because of decisions such as these that Glen Sannox now serves the community of Arran.

“Following her handover, we have been reviewing our delivery plan for Glen Rosa, embedding all lessons learned in partnership with our Scottish Government sponsor team, [certification body] Lloyds, the [regulator] Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Cmal and CalMac.

“This exercise is ongoing, but once it is complete we will be able to communicate a final estimated completion date for Glen Rosa. This process has taken longer than anticipated, but it’s critical that we get it right. We remain committed to updating the NZET committee on a quarterly basis."

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Sue Webber said: “Ferguson Marine’s failure to update the NZET committee will spark serious concerns, especially given they’ve ripped major parts out of the Glen Rosa.

“Their claim that this won’t affect the vessel’s delivery is frankly outlandish and will do little to reassure island communities. Islanders have been betrayed at every turn by incompetent SNP ministers who have failed to deliver lifeline services on time and on budget.

“It’s high time that those responsible were held to account for this appalling and unforgivable ferries fiasco.”

Scottish Labour transport spokesperson Claire Baker said: “These astonishing revelations show the scale of the chaos the SNP has created with these ferries. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a sustainable way to build a ferry fleet.

“The yard’s skilled and dedicated workforce has worked hard to clean up the SNP’s mess here, but they are being badly let down.

“The SNP must ensure there are no more delays or overruns delivering Glen Rosa and must set out a real ferry renewal plan to ensure we have the modern lifeline vessels we need.”