Exclusive:The CalMac electric ferry orders Ferguson Marine is expected to lose and win

The Scottish Government-owned yard’s workforce had hoped it would be directly awarded the first of the “small vessels replacement programme” (SVRP) vessels, such as for the Gigha and Iona routes, as part of a £175m project.

However, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes announced on Tuesday the contract would be put out to competitive tender because a direct award carried “substantial risks” from legal difficulties delaying the work.

Ms Forbes, who is also economy secretary and responsible for the Port Glasgow yard, instead agreed to its request for £14.2m funding to make it more competitive.

That is seen as likely to give Ferguson Marine a fighting chance of winning a second SVRP order for three larger electric ferries for routes that could include Mallaig to Armadale in Skye. Union officials hope the order could be up for grabs next year.

Scottish Conservatives transport spokesperson Graham Simpson told The Scotsman: “It seems unlikely that Fergusons will be able to win the first tranche of ferries because the necessary upgrades to the yard haven’t happened.

“Hopefully they can be in the running for the second tranche of three ferries. The extra investment really should have been in place a lot sooner. I think it’s possible that Fergusons could pick up work from elsewhere in the meantime.”

One industry source agreed: “Nobody’s ruling out the yard getting something out of phase one but, between the lines, the suggestion is that phase two is a far more likely proposition, if the money is invested well and the yard is reshaped. There’s a decent amount of optimism.”

Another said: “To win the first phase, there must either be a large social value adjustment by [Scottish Government ferry-buying firm] Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal) to justify paying extra and/or the Scottish Government being prepared to support, with builders’ guarantees, assumptions within Ferguson Marine about productivity.

“Neither of these are likely to make sense.”

John Petticrew, the yard’s interim chief executive, said: “While we have not yet seen the tender specification, in principle we do plan to submit a bid. Meanwhile, we will continue our determined efforts to secure further commercial work for the yard.”

Ferguson Marine is now putting the finishing touches to the yard’s planned overhaul, but said the new £14.2m Scottish Government funding did not include paying for redundancies, which is understood to have been part of its business plan.

Its spokesperson said: “Now that the additional investment has been confirmed, over the coming weeks the Ferguson Marine board and senior team will be refining and finalising a comprehensive project plan for how and when this funding will be allocated.

“The funding is solely capital expenditure to enhance the yard. This plan will also be discussed and agreed with Scottish Government."

Transport in Scotland is a key issue - get our specialist newsletter for the best updates A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The detail of the investment proposal is aimed at improving the productivity of the yard, including buying new and upgrading existing equipment. As it will be subject to a more detailed due diligence, it would not be appropriate to give any further details at this point.”

The GMB, the yard’s main union, said it was confident Ferguson Marine was capable of winning further work and optimistic it would build more ships.

Ms Forbes has said talks with BAE Systems were in their “final stages” over a significantly bigger contract for the yard on new Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy than the steelwork it had previously completed for the warships.

GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said: “A shipyard needs ships and it is disappointing the yard was not asked to build these small ferries without the need for tendering.

“Every pound of the promised investment must help ensure Ferguson Marine is in a position to successfully compete for these contracts or future contracts as quickly as possible. We fully support the yard’s attempts to secure that work, whether for the seven small ferries in phase one of this programme or the three in phase two expected next year.”

The Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency said an invitation to tender for the first seven ferries was expected to be issued in September and the contract awarded in March, with the ships being delivered from around summer 2027.

It said ministers were due to be updated on plans for the further three ferries early next year, but no order or delivery dates had been set.

They will have “additional carrying capacity and have different design criteria”. Other routes on which they may deployed are Barra to Eriskay, and Berneray to Leverburgh in Harris.

Ferguson Marine, which was nationalised after going into administration in 2019, is still finishing two hugely delayed and over budget ferries for the main Arran route, which will be CalMac’s second largest.

Glen Sannox is due to be delivered next month and sister ship Glen Rosa, which was launched in April, in September next year. They both should have been completed six years ago and will cost a total of some £400m - four times the original contract price.

However, the fiasco has been largely blamed on two previous managements at the yard, including for building sections in the wrong order to trigger payments, with the work then having to be re-done.