Scotland’s troubled nationalised shipyard, Ferguson Marine, has failed in its bid to win a crucial order for seven small electric ferries that will operate on Scotland’s west coast, it was announced yesterday. Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), the state body in charge of ferries procurement, says it intends to award the contract for the new ‘loch class’ vessels to Polish firm Remontowa Shipbuilding. A budget of £175 million has been allocated to the build, which will include harbour and shore power upgrades.
Six shipyards were invited to tender for the contract, with five returning responses. ‘Bids were robustly assessed against technical and financial criteria, with a 65 per cent/35 per cent weighting, respectively,’ reports CMAL.
The contract award news has come as a bitter blow to Ferguson Marine
The first ferries are due to be delivered to state ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) in 2027. Remontowa, which is based in Gdansk, has previously built the CalMac ferries MV Argyle, MV Bute and MV Finlaggan.
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