Nationalisation has been largely rehabilitated since the bad old days of British Rail.
There is widespread support for the Scottish Government’s plan to take ScotRail into public ownership next year. However, there is one problem with nationalisation, which is now becoming glaringly obvious with the misfortunes of Scotland’s state-owned CalMac Ferry services. If the service is failing the government can’t sack the operators or withdraw their licence because they’d effectively be sacking themselves.
Ageing CalMac ferries seem to be breaking down almost by the week and services to the islands have been severely disrupted at the height of the tourist season. The problem is the ageing fleet of ferries servicing the Clyde and Hebrides routes. These are owned by another company, CMAL, Caledonian Maritime Assets, which is also owned by the Scottish Government.
CMAL is in dire straights, if you’ll excuse the pun, because two new ferries that were supposed to boost services are five years late and 100% over budget. The shipyard which was supposed to be building MV Glen Sannox and the unnamed “hull 802”. is, you’ve guessed it, state-owned - Ferguson Marine.
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