A KEY milestone have been reached to take the last civilian shipyard on the Clyde into public hands.
The Scottish Government confirmed a contract to nationalise Ferguson Marine has now been signed.
A meeting of the board of directors of Macrocom, the company wholly owned by Scottish ministers which will own the Ferguson Marine business and assets, also took place today to consider and sign the contract.
Full completion of the contract and the final transaction will take place in the coming weeks.
READ MORE: Analysis: There is much to do but there is a tomorrow for Ferguson's
The yard has been under temporary public control since going into administration in August, following a calamitous contract for two CalMac ferries.
It previously emerged the Scottish Government has already written off almost £50m in loans and interest to the business.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “Our focus has always been on ensuring completion of the two public sector ferries at the best value for money for the taxpayer, while also working towards the delivery of the other vessels under construction at the yard, and in doing so, securing jobs for the workforce.
“Today marks another important milestone in the transition into public ownership and I will also receive the Programme Review Board’s report on the schedule and cost for delivery of the two ferries shortly.
“While we’ve been working with the administrators to bring the yard into public ownership, work on the ferries has been progressing, and additional staff have been recruited.
READ MORE: CalMac Ferries hails huge profits hike after year of record passenger numbers
“The action that we have taken will ensure there is a future for Ferguson Marine.”
Ferguson’s was taken over in 2014 by tycoon Jim McColl’s Clyde Blower empire and quickly landed a £97m deal for two innovative dual-fuel CalMac ferries.
However the contract was beset by design changes, delays and spiralling costs.
Ferguson’s blamed Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the state-owned firm which ordered the vessels, and which in turn blamed Ferguson’s and insisted on a fixed price.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel