This article appears as part of the Scottish Ferries newsletter.
Ministers have come under fire over a 17-year failure to provide a fund to help attract international ferry routes to Scotland.
The route development fund had been a major factor in boosting the number of destinations that Scots could fly to without having to go via English airports.
As far back as 2006, MSP Kenny MacAskill, a key figure in the SNP before it became the party of government the following year, said that a maritime development fund would bring benefits economically through potential increased tourism and freight transportation, bringing jobs to the areas surrounding Scotland's ports.
Mr MacAskill, who would go on to become justice secretary in Alex Salmond's first government, says there is no fund or subsidy available to progress schemes while Scotland currently has no ferry links to Europe.
Meanwhile, there are 10 ferry routes that connect the Republic of Ireland to France, UK, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
It comes after SNP MP Douglas Chapman indicated that a ferry operator has been lined up to provide a direct ferry route linking Scotland to mainland Europe and "high level talks" are going ahead with a European port.
Over 13,000 have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of the service from Rosyth in Fife to Zeebrugge in Belgium.
The route was last open to freight in 2018 and was operated by DFDS, a Danish international shipping company. The ferry last carried passenger services in 2010, eight years after it first began sailing.
Ferries stopped sailing between the two ports five years ago and now the closest ferry connection to Europe takes people from Newcastle to Amsterdam.
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Mr MacAskill, now the MP for East Lothian and Alba Party deputy leader, said that while he was a supporter of the ferry link – it would require support from the Scottish Government and there was no indication that there would be any.
Transport Scotland in response to speculation around the reinstatement of a ferry to Europe said that any new services "will require to be delivered on a commercial basis".
Mr MacAskill says that the government has a duty to provide funds to support a route that previously would have been available to receive aid from Europe.
He said that there had to be cash input from the Scottish Government and said that Mr Chapman was "wasting his breath" if cash was not available.
He said: "There’s certainly clear hints that the Flemish would provide some support. But there needs to be some cash input from the Scottish Government.
"As long as they take the line it's all commercial, it is doomed. Without some very modest Scottish Government funding, it's going nowhere.
"We fund other transport and even ferries for refugees. Where’s ours?
"Trains and internal ferries are subsidised, air routes used to be funded to launch.
"We found the money for two ferries for refugees. We can surely find the money for a commercial enterprise which will be cheaper than that."
The MP first made his funding call when officials in Norway were examining the possibility of a service linking Kristiansund and Rosyth, which at that point already had a ferry to Zeebrugge, Belgium.
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He has said it is "absurd" that former first minister Lord Jack McConnell could bring in an airline route development fund but the Scottish Government will not do likewise with ferries.
A ferry user group official said that the problem echoed the lack of investment in west coast ferries – which are ageing and prone to breaking down.
"I think that ferries have been undervalued by those making the decisions and have a pivotal role," said the official. "Better funding of ferries is an age-old issue and the fact that Scotland has no link to Europe must ring alarm bells."
Peter Timms, chairman of ferry operator CalMac warned the government in 2010 that ferry investment had been "slipping behind for decades" and produced an analysis which concluded that finance was urgently required on a longer term, regular basis "to just stand still".
Since his warning only five vessels have been launched to support the network, and only two are considered as major ferries.
Before his warning vessels were being produced at a rate of one every 14 months. Afterward, ferries were typically produced every 33.6 months.
Last year, DFDS signed an agreement with Ptarmigan Shipping to investigate the possibility of a new route between Rosyth and the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.
And they set a target date of 2023 for freight services.
A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: "We’ve always made clear our support for the development of Scotland’s ports and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe.
"We will continue to engage with port operators and others to explore how that might be delivered so that Scottish exporters have more direct routes to market and that passengers have viable alternatives to air travel. Any new service will require to be delivered on a commercial basis."
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