From STV on 28th March 2024, as a media frenzy risked the future of commercial shipbuilding in the Clyde, just to attack the SNP Government, in support of the 2024 General Election Labour campaign:
All four Calmac ferries being built in Turkey ‘are on time and on budget’
By August 2024, the Herald told us:
Four ferries being built in Turkey for CalMac will be delayed, with the first having been due to be delivered this month. MV Isle of Islay was due to be delivered by mid-October, but it was announced in August that it would not be delivered until close to the end of 2024.
Then, in October 2024, the above date was pushed forward to February 2025 and the other three identical vessels will be further delayed in a knock-on effect. These delays will, no doubt, not be the last. Watch this space.
Remember, these are smaller simpler vessels than the delayed Ferguson Marine-built ferries just coming into service.
Why are the Turkish boats being delayed?
The war in Ukraine has affected the supply of steel. One good reason for being independent and having your own national steel production and for building at home, away from war zones, common on the borders of places like Turkey.
Most important, there is a serious Labour shortage in Turkish shipbuilding. Why might that be? Low wages, poor conditions, and limited safety in non-unionised yards enables owners to offer low prices. The Scottish Government should do as some other countries do, eg France, Poland and others simply ignore or find ways round such rules. Regardless of media or opposition poses, that’d be a vote-winner.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Maritime Williams will no doubt be researching this delay with a blindfold on..
Snigger.. 🙂
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At the time that the order was placed in Turkey, the Glen Sannox had not been completed. Ergo, the Turkish yard order was better. Now that the Glen Sannox is built and the Turkish yard is facing delays, it was the fault of the SG for placing the order there.
The STV News always starts,”I’m John Mackay and I am here to tell you Scotland is pure shite”. The bulletin always ends with ‘Watch every England match live on STV.”
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Indeed! You write: ‘At the time that the order was placed in Turkey, the Glen Sannox had not been completed.’ – I wonder how long it would have been before there was the capacity in Scotland to built additional ferries and how this time (a delay) compares to the length of the delivery delays now occurring in Turkey?
So yes, if focused on the outcome of getting new ferries into operation as quickly as possible, at the time it is not hard to see why: ‘ .. the Turkish yard order was better.’
And yes, only blessed with perfect prediction, may it be logical and reasonable to conclude: ‘Now that the Glen Sannox is built and the Turkish yard is facing delays, it was the fault of the SG for placing the order there.’
And let’s also insert a wee bit of perspective: it’s not as if ‘delays’ are uncommon internationally in shipbuilding projects! From one of many sources addressing the issue of delays in shipbuilding revealed by a very quick Google search – conducted whilst watching TV!
‘Despite the application of project management tools and techniques in projects worldwide, still a large number of projects fail to meet their objectives. There is a consensus among authors that the growing technology, global economy and the nature of information technology is bringing more complexity to projects and their environments. The increase of complexity is partly the cause of projects going wrong and difficulty in bringing them to successful completions (Williams 2002).
‘Shipbuilding is an interesting industry in which highly complex products with tight delivery times are produced mainly in project organization forms (Koivunen 2007). It is a complex process that involves numerous related activities, such as design, tendering, contracting, engineering, procurement, production, commissioning, delivery, and guarantee service (Andritsos and Perez-Prat 2000).
‘In the recent years, the ship design and construction community has become increasingly aware of the significance of the operational and managerial side of such activities if they are to be effectively performed, coordinated and integrated (Semini et al. 2014). The large number of stakeholders involved within the process and the complexity of the product creates a potential for delay in shipbuilding projects.’
AndSource: Haji-kazemi et al (2015). Detecting Early Warning Signs of Delays in Shipbuilding Projects. In: Umeda, S., Nakano, M., Mizuyama, H., Hibino, H., Kiritsis, D., von Cieminski, G. (eds) Advances in Production Management Systems: Innovative Production Management Towards Sustainable Growth. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22759-7_25
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Thanks for the research and the perspective it provides.
However, STV and the rest of the unionist media are not interested in perspective and nuance. They want to BLAME someone, preferably the Scottish Government.
Blaming as an end in itself (usually called SLAMMING on SLATING) is the main purpose of journalists.
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Got to add this to your comment. A chronic shortage of capacity is a major factor, there just isn’t enough ship builders and certainly not enough expertise particularly with new tech. The SG should be applauded for sticking with Ferguson’s because we now have home grown experience which wasn’t there 10 yrs ago.
Golfnut.
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Isn’t there annoldcsayingbon the lines of – Buy cheap, pay dear?
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Ah, good to see the Aberdeen hooker motto still remembered… I shan’t ask further….
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I’ve worked in shipping for some decades now. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. You can’t mess up a shipbuilding job to the extent of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa accidently. I’m quite sure there has been deliberate sabotage along the way. Cabling too short, anchor chains the wrong size for the gypsies are two we know about. I’m afraid the spooks have been quite busy with this.
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