In yet another example of the false economy of having ferries built in countries with lower labour costs and more relaxed regulations, Ontario’s transport minister has further delayed the use of two ferries built in Romania’s Damen shipyards which arrived in late 2021.
The reasons are not being revealed but are to do with safety after the Wolfe Islander IV ran aground. Readers remember one of the Vietnam-built Orkney catamaran, the only 15 year-old MV Pentalina, running aground last April, only weeks after some time in dry-dock.
Returning to the two Romanian ferries, last November we wrote:
Amherst and Wolfe Islands (population 2 000) are dependent on two ferries to the nearby city of Kingston, Ontario in Canada. Two replacement ferries (above), built quickly in Romania, are still not operational, two years after delivery.
It’s a service a bit like the Largs-Millport one operated by CalMac.
Locals have contacted the provincial government about this ferry crisis, but were shocked to hear: “the ministry does not have any documents that outline an implementation plan or implementation date.”
Locals are now saying the old ferries are a better option than the new ones and have called for the Auditor General to carry out an investigation.
The newer of the two Largs-Millport ferries, the MV Loch Shirra was built by Ferguson Marine in 2006.
CalMac was running at 97.2% reliability yesterday, 95.4% for the season and making 52 crossings a day at 100% reliability for Millport.
Maybe the local politicians from Amherst and Wolfe Islands should make a fact-finding trip to Millport?
Footnote: How did two wee Romanian ferries get all the way to Lake Ontario? There is a river from the lake to the sea at Quebec. See this:
The vessels recently sailed from the shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Galati to Constanta, for onwards transportation to Canada [4 838 miles away!] onboard a heavy-lift semi-submersible transport vessel.https://www.shippax.com/en/press-releases/zero-emission-amherst-islander-ii-and-wolfe-islander-iv-successfully-completed.aspx
How much did that cost?
There are three shipyards in Hamilton on Lake Ontario, 200 miles from Kingston as opposed to the nearly 5 000 from Romania.
It’s 18 miles from Port Glasgow’s Ferguson Engineering to Largs.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
keep it going , the unionists dont like it , you provide more and more and more examples of what a fantastic ferry service the Scottish government provide across to our islands and back , ive noticed the shallow minded who often criticise our ferry services have become quieter and quieter and quieter shhhh shhhh
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Thanks
I wish I was that influential
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Whilst I agree that towing vessels thousands of miles before being completed seems a hugely expensive proposition, it has to work out cheaper else the yard which sub-contracted the fabrication bluntly wouldn’t be doing it.
However, let’s not be misled by the origins of the hull being the problem – In the Canadian case it is a crewing problem (a dearth of certified marine engineers (one per crew required)), and the Pentalina didn’t run aground through a problem with the hull.
I agree it would make greater sense to have fabrication and fit-out in the one yard, but Scotland’s ship building industry is a pale shadow of it’s former glory, which is unlikely to see some form of revival until after independence.
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Apologies O/T below is on BBC Website:
“Staff at one of Britain’s biggest trade unions, the GMB, have voted to strike over claims the organisation has failed to act on a report which branded it “institutionally sexist”.
“Karon Monaghan KC was called in to investigate sexual harassment in the GMB in 2020”.
“Employees in the North East say promised reforms have not materialised”.
“The Monaghan investigation began after the abrupt resignation of the then-General Secretary Tim Roache”.
“She concluded that “bullying, misogyny, cronyism, and sexual harassment were endemic” in the union.
Her report found there was a “bully-boy atmosphere”, describing the union as a “hostile environment” for women, and said a “complete transformation” in culture and practices was required.
When Gary Smith was elected General Secretary in 2021, he promised to implement the recommendations of the Monaghan Report in full.
But almost three years later, GMB staff in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber (NEYH) region claim progress has stalled, with a taskforce set up to carry out reforms being disbanded.
Dozens of GMB employees – who are themselves represented by the Unite union – have now overwhelmingly backed industrial action.
They also allege that disciplinary procedures are not being followed and their own Unite union representatives have been intimidated”.
Also in Skwawkbox there was an article they wrote on 6 March 2024 on Gary Smith.
“No response from GMB to recording of Smith ‘threatening’ sexual harassment victim”
“The GMB trade union has failed to respond to an urgent press enquiry from Skwawkbox about the serious accusations made against it by a woman employee of sexual harassment and rape by one of its senior officials – and of threats made by GMB boss Gary Smith if she did not withdraw the complaint and sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).”
“While most of the victim’s allegations of what Smith said are related verbally, on one occasion she recorded Smith appearing to acknowledge that she had been abused, but warning her that if she ‘put a gun on the table’ she would be fired back at and that as a ‘big organisation’ ‘we’ would always have more money and better lawyers for a legal battle – and that there’d be no room for tears if things went badly, so ‘don’t get into that game’ “
But all I see is…..
We still have GMB Reps desperate to do photo ops with Labour leader Anas Sarwar next to piles of rubbish (as they, GMB, call a strikes on rubbish collection)….I mean Unions are supposed to be for workers rights and not an extension of a (Pro) UK political party…..if they want to do politics then they should , individually, put themselves up for election on behalf of a political party and not work undercover within a trade Union(though also actually some of them are quite blatantly obvious in who, politically, they support and act on behalf of) I.e. ONE political party….as in the Labour party….and here’s a reminder that the workers they, as a Union, should also support should be female members too….though the Equal Pay dispute with Glasgow Labour council was not the GMB’s finest moment…..as tis never a good thing to be seen to conspire with a political party against the workers (as in the women)….is it ?
Perhaps some within the GMB need to get ‘their own house in order’ before jumping incessantly onto the #SNPBAD bandwagon…..just sayin.
NMRN
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O/T I’m not one to consider that an education system should be judged on just the OECD’s PISA scoring but there is something to be said for comparing reactions by politicians to such scores for different parts of the UK.
When the last set of PISA results for Scotland were reported on the BBC News website on 5 December 2023, we learned that ‘Performance in Scotland’s high schools has slipped according to new international research on education.’ With countries across the world receiving scores that were better or indeed more often worse than before, there are likely to be a complex of reasons.
In Scotland the cause was simple according to one deep thinking politician. The BBC reported: ‘Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledged the impact of the Covid pandemic but said the decline in performance was the result of “16 years of SNP incompetence”.’
A report just published by the ‘authoritative’ Institute for Fiscal Studies ‘examines the major challenges for education in Wales, including low outcomes across a range of measures and high levels of inequality.’ (https://ifs.org.uk/publications/major-challenges-education-wales)
It states (with my emphasis): ‘PISA scores DECLINED BY MORE IN WALES THAN IN MOST OTHER COUNTRIES IN 2022, with scores declining by about 20 points (equivalent to about 20% of a standard deviation, which is a big decline). This brought scores in Wales to their LOWEST EVER LEVEL, SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THE AVERAGE ACROSS OECD COUNTRIES AND SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW THOSE SEEN ACROSS THE REST OF THE UK.’
‘Lower scores in Wales cannot be explained by higher levels of poverty. In PISA, DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ENGLAND SCORE ABOUT 30 POINTS HIGHER, ON AVERAGE, THAN DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN WALES. This is a large gap and equivalent to about 30% of a standard deviation. Even more remarkably, THE PERFORMANCE OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN IN ENGLAND IS EITHER ABOVE OR SIMILAR TO THE AVERAGE FOR ALL CHILDREN IN WALES.’
And beyond PISA: ‘There are worse post-16 educational outcomes in Wales, with A HIGHER SHARE OF YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT OR TRAINING THAN IN THE REST OF THE UK (11% compared with 5–9%), LOWER LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION (particularly amongst boys) and LOWER LEVELS OF EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS FOR THOSE FROM DISADVANTAGED BACKGROUNDS.’
I’m not going to argue that Labour in government in Wales is ‘incompetent’ : I do wonder though how Mr Sarwar would describe his party’s performance on Welsh education! And while we’re at it what about Labour’s performance on the NHS in Wales? ‘Incompetent’ or something else altogether? Whatever – based on its track record in Wales, Labour is not the answer Scotland needs!
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The issue is with PISA. It has very little statistical rigour and offers nothing in the way of improving educational practice.
I was a secondary school head teacher at the time it and other ‘measures’ were introduced in education in Scotland in other places. I and my colleagues argued against it.
Educational provision, like everything else, ought to be continuously evaluated, partly to get evidence on whether it is achieving the aims set out for it and partly to get information on areas which require attention. However, there are, literally, hundreds of aspects to be measured and many of these aspects are not measurable by things like tests of arithmetical competence. Such tests are part of the picture but their results are not the full picture (insofar as a full picture can be obtained) Most of the data have to be set in a fairly long time context so that temporary fluctuations can be seen. Usually such temporary fluctuations are easily explainable, in the cases of individual schools.
Such data do, in fact exist. There is a great deal of it and it requires a great deal of care and experience to identify things which are of statistical significance. And things can be significantly ‘good’ as well as ‘poor’.
PISA is of no benefit in this evaluative context. It is an instrument of BLAME and, as such, is a tool of control and compliance over schools and teachers. For some politicians and their media mouthpieces it is a malign instrument which stifles the creativity which is an essential part of teaching.
Some of those in power see such creativity as presenting a threat to their power.
Creativity and the autonomy necessary to be creative can challenge power, but it is the way that people in all walks of life improve things. It is essential in medicine, science, engineering, the arts, social policy, etc.
PISA is a club to beat creativity out of teachers and schools.
The teacher unions are not too keen on creativity amongst their members, too!
Alasdair Macdonald.
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Not about this ferries but it is about UK seamen.
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/p-o-ferries-dp-world-sacked-meetings-andrew-mitchell/
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Damen is a dutch company, blame them
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