The former owner of the shipyard building two massively delayed and overbudget ferries has described the sacking of the troubled yard’s chief executive as “appalling”.
Jim McColl instead blamed “incompetence” at Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) – the Scottish Government-owned body which owns the vessels, ports and infrastructure for Scotland’s lifeline ferry services – for the problems with the two delayed boats.
He was speaking the day after David Tydeman was sacked by the Ferguson Marine board after telling ministers that further delays to the construction of the Glen Sannox and the Glen Rosa are “likely”.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Wednesday, former Ferguson Marine owner Mr McColl said: “I think it is appalling he was dismissed, I think David had no chance at all.”
The problems with the two ferries – which are now some six years late and will cost around three times the original price of £97 million – go back to the original specification, Mr McColl insisted.
He said: “The problems have been caused by the real shortcomings in the specification, which were CMAL, and that’s where the base of the problems are.
“They’re constantly having to do changes to the design to make up for that, that’s the fundamental problem here.
“David Tydeman is not the problem, the workforce are a fantastic workforce and they are not the problem. CalMac are not the problem.
“It is the design of the ferries and the incompetence in CMAL in this whole process.”
Mr McColl rescued the Port Glasgow shipyard from administration when he bought it in 2014, and the contract to build the two ferries for CalMac was announced by the Scottish Government the following year.
The business tycoon insisted “very, very little” of the problems with the two vessels can be traced back to his time in charge.
“This all goes back to the fundamental design,” he said.
“It was the wrong ship, it was poorly specified and they have tried to correct that all the way through, and it is really difficult when you start off with a really poor specification.”
Although the yard is now state-owned, Mr McColl said he would be prepared to buy it back for £1 – but would want two years’ worth of money from the Government to “sustain the workforce until we got new work”.
He added: “I think it is appalling what they have done to the yard, and the prospects for the workforce and the yard down there.
“This needs to be completely cleared up and turned around. They’ve driven it into the ground and it needs to be sorted.
“There needs to be a serious investigation into this.”
A spokesperson for CMAL said “We have responded to these false claims on a number of occasions.
“Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited had an opportunity to test their claims in court but chose not to pursue this remedy given that they had no substance.
“CMAL is firmly focused on the delivery of the two new vessels.”