'Blackout' halts Glen Sannox ferry's sea trials after fire detector triggered

The incident happened on Wednesday, three days into the planned five-day trials, which have been suspended until at least Friday.

It raises the prospect of yet another delay to the delivery of the ship, which has been repeatedly put back, with the latest deadline of October 14 - 11 days away.

The Ferguson Marine shipyard said it would provide an update next week after the sea trials are completed ”on any impact on the handover date” to Scottish Government ferry-owning firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited.

The “blackout” led to tugs being deployed as a precaution as the CalMac ferry returned to the Inchgreen dock in Greenock under its own power.

One of the ship’s two anchors also failed a test on the first day of the trials on Monday and the yard does not know yet how long it will take to be fixed.

Confirmation of the latest hitch to Glen Sannox being deployed on CalMac’s busiest service - to Arran - in December came as connectivity minister Jim Fairlie told MSPs there had been “significant disruption” to the route because its ageing main vessel Caledonian Isles had been under repair since January.

Ferguson Marine interim chief executive John Petticrew said on Thursday: “Yesterday morning, during day three of owner’s trials, Glen Sannox experienced a blackout. This was a result of inadvertently triggering a fire detector on board.

“Although a false alarm, it ultimately resulted in the shutdown of the ship’s main propulsion. Checks of the main engines were undertaken and a soft restart followed. All systems were safely restarted without any adverse effects. However, trials were temporarily halted.

“As a precaution, tugs were called to assist. The vessel returned to Inchgreen under her own power, with a view to assessing the event and the operation of the fire detection system.”

Ferguson Marine said it had agreed with Cmal and CalMac that trials should remain suspended on Thursday with an aim to resume them on Friday. It said a solution to the fire detection system was “now in place”, with the agreement of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency regulator and [certification firm] Lloyds.

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The Port Glasgow yard added: “We are working hard on a solution for the mooring system [anchor and rope] to have it revised and installed.

“Unfortunately, at this time we cannot give a timeframe until the subcontractor has reviewed the proposals. But be assured, we are putting our full efforts into fixing the issues to ensure a safe vessel is provided to everyone’s satisfaction.”

The yard said dual-fuel Glen Sannox was operating on marine gas oil - a dense form of diesel - at the time.

It will be the first CalMac ferry to be also able to run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), whose installation has caused a series of delays to completion of the vessel.

The fault follows successful docking trials at Brodick on the main Arran route on Tuesday, on which Glen Sannox is due to operate from Troon.

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Graham Simpson said: "This latest issue with the Glen Sannox will have many islanders wondering if this ferry is cursed following so many disasters and delays.

"Problems with the LNG already pushed back the initial August delivery date and our island communities will understandably be frustrated if this suspension means they have to wait even longer for it to be delivered.

"Our islanders will be disheartened the Glen Sannox has fallen at one of the final hurdles after how long it took to get it ready for sea trials.

"The SNP must urgently let them know if this blackout will delay the delivery of the Glen Sannox even further, especially if it could mean traveling over Christmas will be difficult."

Ferguson Marne said this week’s trials had also included turning, maximum speed and stopping tests on Monday, and noise, vibration and thruster tests on Wednesday.

The ferry is due to undergo six-and-a-half weeks of further trials by CalMac following its scheduled delivery by the yard on October 14 before entering passenger service.

It should have been finished more than six years ago, but has been delayed by a series of construction problems, mainly by the yard under previous managements prior to its nationalisation by the Scottish Government in 2019.

Meantime, Caledonian Isles is not expected to return to the main Arran route until at least the end of next week after further repairs were required following nine months of steelwork replacement on its hull.

This comes on top of four CalMac ferries being built in Turkey for the Islay and Skye-North Uist-Harris routes being delayed up to four months. The first, Isle of Islay, could arrive as late as March.

CalMac told Islay Community Council’s ferry committee on Thursday: “The arrival of Isle of Islay and Glen Sannox will provide welcome relief to the network, but we know it will be a tough period until we get there.”

It said Finlaggan, the Islay route’s main vessel, would have its annual overhaul delayed from March to late April because of the delay to Isle of Islay’s arrival.

The operator said the vessel was expected to spend 18 days in refit “and be back in service in good time for the whisky festival [Islay’s Feis Ile] in late May”.