(c) Visit Scotland

There are around 10 major shipbuilders in Australia, including Incat which builds large catamaran ferries, yet the Tasmanian government has made things devilishly complicated by ordering 2 new ferries from Finland which, even after a wee break in Leith, will arrive two years before the new berths are completed and have to be leased to some other island – Iceland?

According to ABC, today:

A newly built Spirit of Tasmania ferry will be temporarily stored at a shipyard in Scotland while the Tasmanian government explores options to lease or charter the ship until a home berth can be completed.

The vessel must leave its shipyard in Finland, where it was constructed, before icy conditions set in over the northern hemisphere winter.

It is unknown how long the Spirit of Tasmania IV will stay in Scotland. A second ship, the Spirit V will stay in Finland for the time being. The new ferries, already delayed, are not expected to enter full service in Tasmania until 2027.

^{https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-29/spirit-of-tasmania-iv-ferry-to-be-relocated-to-scotland/104533250}

Now, I’m not one of those mad-eyed anti-globalists like the ones who attacked the US capitol or the Christian ones putting stuff through my door recently, but I really do not believe that it makes sense, politically, environmentally, ethically or even economically (all costs considered) to buy ferries from the other side of the world, as Tasmania is doing. Ontario ferries in Canada are buying from Romania, 5 000 miles away when there are local builders a stone’s throw away and we’re buying them from Turkey where worker safety is a real problem.

The two being built at Ferguson Marine are new first-time hybrids costing more than planned and late but, the money stays in the Scottish economy, worker skills are developed and kept, families and communities are nurtured, local businesses are helped to survive and, when things go wrong it’s easy to just ‘take them back to the shop’ where the guys know what to do and have contracts that allow them to work like human beings who are entitled to keep all their fingers.

Am I wrong?