One of Scotland's leading maritime experts has claimed that taxpayers' money is being wasted on a massive scale by the state-owned ferry company CalMac because of its insistence on fitting its latest small vehicle ferries with expensive hybrid engines, capable of running on both traditional diesel power and electric batteries.
The hybrid vessels will cost around £12 million, whereas a conventional ferry of a similar size would cost around £4m. It is expected to be launched in spring 2016 and will be able to accommodate 150 passengers, and 23 cars or two HGVs.
The comments were made by Alf Baird, professor of maritime business at Edinburgh Napier University, following last week's announcement that Port Glasgow's Ferguson shipyard had won its first ferry contract since being rescued by engineering tycoon Jim McColl last month.
Baird said the environmental benefits claimed for the hybrid ferries are "marginal" as the ferries will only be used in their electric mode for around 15% of the time when they are manoeuvring or alongside in port.
The Scottish Government contract will see the Inverclyde yard build its third hybrid ferry for CalMac as part of a programme to build four such vessels for some of its shorter west coast routes. It follows the introduction last year of the MV Hallaig on the Sconser to Raasay route on Skye, and the MV Lochinvar on the Tarbert to Portavadie run in Argyll and Bute.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the Government company which owns CalMac's ferry fleet, said the new ferries are the world's first sea-going vehicle and passenger ferries to use such hybrid technology.
But Baird said: "It is a dog's breakfast. No private-sector ferry company would buy these. Only the public sector would do this.
"There will be 10 to 15 tonnes of battery on these ferries. For a ship that is only designed to carry two trucks that is a hell of a lot of deadweight."
The ferries have four fuel-use modes: diesel only, a combination of battery and diesel power, battery only, or plugged into shoreside mains. When operated in electric battery mode, the ferries will produce no emissions at all.
Hybrid ferries charge their six-tonne lithium ion batteries overnight when mains electricity is cheaper while they are moored at their home ports. CMAL said the new technology will allow each vessel to save around £19,000 a year in fuel costs.
As the new vessels can be powered in harbour waters entirely using electric battery power, it is claimed that air quality as well as noise pollution in harbours will improve.
Carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced by at least 800 tonnes over five years, and emissions of sulphur and nitrous oxides will also fall.
CMAL said that using such hybrid technology will mean that the ferries use less fuel and produce carbon dioxide emissions at least 20% lower than the diesel-powered vessels that they replace. CMAL also claims the new ferries will have lower maintenance costs than conventional ferries.
Baird added that any reduction in noise while the ferries are in port will improve the quality of life of very few people, as the ports served by the new ferries are sparsely populated.
A spokeswoman for CMAL admitted that the cost of the new ferries was high but said that, with an expected lifespan of up to 35 years, the fuel savings and emission reductions would be significant.
However, she said: "Construction of the ferries involves a very high percentage of components supplied by third parties, therefore economies of scale do not feature when only building a small number."
The spokeswoman said no decision has yet been taken on the route for the third hybrid ferry. No decision has yet been made on when the fourth hybrid ferry will be commissioned.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article