Ferguson Marine is to begin building a small number of tugboats for sale on the commercial market, with the Scottish Government providing working capital to keep shipbuilding activity moving at Port Glasgow after delays on a proposed package of four further vessels.
Economy and Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn told Holyrood that he had agreed Ferguson Marine’s proposal for financial backing, describing it as a way of retaining productive work and critical skills during a gap in the yard’s order book.
He said: “I have agreed that this proposal should be taken forward because I agree with the board that it represents a sensible, commercial approach to maintaining productive activity within the yard.”
The tugboats are expected to be built for subsequent sale rather than against an existing customer order, with the state-owned yard then seeking buyers on the commercial market.
Ferguson Marine is expected to work with an established shipbuilder on a pre-packaged design, potentially Dutch shipbuilder Damen, allowing construction to begin relatively quickly. Flynn said the arrangement was intended to provide greater certainty while the Government continues work on plans announced earlier this year for four new vessels to be built at Ferguson Marine, including two CalMac ferries.
He said: “Providing working capital to the yard has the potential to retain critical shipbuilding capability and workforce skills during an important period for the business.”
Flynn added: “I have therefore asked officials to work with the company to progress the necessary commercial, financial and governance arrangements as quickly as possible.”
The proposed four-vessel package has not yet reached contract award, with Flynn telling MSPs that “robust due diligence” was still being carried out before the contracts could be placed. He said the working capital was intended to provide “certainty for the yard during the gap between the delivery of the Glen Rosa and the award of these new contracts by making sure we have a commercial alternative in place with tugboats.”
Ferguson Marine is currently completing MV Glen Rosa, the second of the two large CalMac ferries built at Port Glasgow. Delivery is expected before the end of 2026, after which the yard currently has no contracted shipbuilding work scheduled for 2027. The lack of confirmed follow-on work has increased pressure on the yard. Ferguson Marine announced in August that it was seeking voluntary redundancies, with up to 70 positions potentially affected.
The Scottish Government had previously pledged to award work for four smaller vessels directly to Ferguson Marine, including two ferries, but the necessary due diligence on those contracts is still under way.
The delay drew criticism from opposition parties. Scottish Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP accused the Government of failing to carry out the necessary legal work before announcing its intention to award contracts directly to Ferguson Marine.
Rennie said: “It’s now clear the government failed to carry out appropriate legal checks before it told parliament earlier this year that it would make a direct award of a ferry contract to the Ferguson yard.”
He added: “The consequences are being felt by the third of the workforce who have lost their jobs as a result of the government’s negligence.”
Rennie also called on Flynn to set out when a decision would be made on the contracts, saying: “The workers deserve not to wait another minute.”
The tugboat plan is intended to bridge the period between completion of Glen Rosa and any future vessel awards, while giving Ferguson Marine a product it can offer into the wider commercial market.
Flynn said the Government, which brought Ferguson Marine into public ownership in 2019, continued to believe the yard “can have a strong future as a modern and competitive shipyard.”
