New LNG powered ships which were ordered by Scottish Government-controlled Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) have been massively delayed and are still not completed.
A contract for two standalone liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations for two long-delayed and over-budget lifeline ferries was agreed in early April, 2020.
The project handed to Danish supplier Kosan Crisplant involved designing and installing Scotland's first LNG bunkering facilities at Uig on the Isle of Skye and at the North Ayrshire coastal town of Ardrossan to allow fuelling of the new ships..
They were due to be completed in July, 2022, to enable the new vessels Glen Sannox and Hull 802 to be fuelled with LNG which Kosan Crisplant said at the time was cleaner than any other fossil fuel.
CMAL has now confirmed that work has still not started on the project and were unable to say when they would be completed.The latest completion date given by the Danish supplier for the tanks is now the "beginning of 2025" - well after the latest dates for the delivery to Scottish Government-controlled ferry operator CalMac of the much-delayed and over-budget vessels Glen Sannox and the so-far unnamed Hull 802.
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| Glen Sannox returning to Port Glasgow from a stay at dry dock in Greenock. |
Both vessels were due online in the first half of 2018, with one initially to serve Arran and the other to serve the Skye triangle routes to North Uist and Harris, but are at least five years late, with costs soaring from £97m to nearly £350m.
Read the full story of the fiasco of the new ships including continual delays and increasing costs here
This vessel is covering for MV Corran, the regular vessel for this journey and which has now been receiving repairs for almost a year.
