Overhaul our ferry system to improve services for islanders, demands union

The way Scotland runs its ­ferries must be ­transformed to ­pro­tect island communities and boost the economy, union leaders have said.

GMB Scotland has called for reform of the maritime transport system, claiming it is unfit for purpose.

The union believes the expected award of a new 10-year contract to ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) is a chance to build better services and underpin Scotland’s maritime and shipbuilding industries.

GMB Scotland ­secretary Louise Gilmour said CalMac should be merged with Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), which owns and commissions ferries and terminals. “A single well-managed, state-owned ferry company can better serve the island communities of Scotland while offering clear economic and industrial opportunities,” she said.

“Our islands’ need for reliable and modern ferries can drive a healthy and secure shipbuilding and maritime sector. It seems an obvious ambition with significant economic benefits.”

Ferguson’s workers deserve chance to rebuild reputation battered by fiasco not of their making, says shipyard veteran

Currently, the west coast ferry network is shaped by Transport Scotland acting for the government, CMAL, and CalMac. But critics claim the system has failed to deliver for islanders or taxpayers.

The calls for change come amid escalating concern over the age and reliability of the CalMac fleet and ongoing controversy over rising costs and delays to two ferries – the Glen Sannox, which is now in service, and the Glen Rosa, which is still to be completed.

GMB said the relentless focus on the troubled contracts has become a diversion from wider concerns around how Scotland commissions and operates ferries.

Gilmour, a Sunday Post columnist, said: “While politicians have found it convenient to use Fergusons as a punch bag, it does nothing to help islanders or Scotland’s industrial capability.

“This shipyard has been traduced after being asked to build ferries it was ill-equipped to deliver. Before that, however, the yard had a reputation for excellence and built many of the ferries carrying CalMac passengers today.

“There is enough blame to go around for the errors made in the commissioning and design of the two ferries but none can be attached to a skilled and committed workforce.

“How Scotland runs its ­ferries must be overhauled and Ferguson Marine should be allowed to regain its reputation as a centre of excellence.”

© DC Thomson

The union has spoken out before proposing a motion at the STUC Congress, starting in Dundee tomorrow, calling for the yard to become a “cornerstone of an industrial strategy to provide Scotland’s publicly owned ferry fleet”.

The GMB had called for the £175 million contract for seven small CalMac ferries to be awarded directly to Ferguson Marine before CMAL gave it to a Polish yard last month.

Then on Friday it emerged the yard had lost out on a contract to build two vessels to operate on the Gourock to Dunoon route for Western Ferries. Gilmour said CMAL’s failure to consider the wider economic and social value of the contract to Inverclyde only confirms the need for change.

She said: “We continue to believe the contract could and should have gone to Ferguson Marine and now hope the second phase will be a direct award. We are told there are legal obstacles but these seem to be insurmountable when convenient for ministers and dissolve when not.

“To discover the wider social value of the contract across Inverclyde to be ignored in the tendering process beggars belief.

“If the system does not allow wider value of this work to the communities of Inverclyde then there is something very wrong with the system.”