SERIOUS questions have been raised over the viability of two green vessels at the centre of Scottish ferry fiasco - as it has emerged key hull features have been left off seven years after the design was completed.
Concerns have emerged over a failure to install a crucial ducktail on either vessel, even though previous owners of the Ferguson Marine shipyard said six years ago that they were required to meet official specifications affecting their green credentials and speed.
The ducktail, which runs the full width of the ship, is around eight feet wide and is designed to adds additional buoyance to the hull, allows for speed to be increased naturally, while making it more efficient by reducing resistance and allowing it to burn less fuel.
But it has emerged that it is not in place on Glen Sannox which was due to serve on one of Scotland's busiest crossing, the Ardrossan to Arran service in May, 2018.
And it has been confirmed that despite being part of its design, the ducktail has also not been installed on the second ship, currently known as Hull 802, which was also supposed to be sailing in July, 2018. No decision has yet been made over its installation.
The two new dual-fuel ferries, which were meant to be identical, were once hailed as a step towards a greener future for Scotland's state owned CalMac ferry fleet as they were to be the first UK-built ships capable of running off liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as well as conventional diesel.
But there is concern that the new vessels will not meet the specifications set down by Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), the taxpayer-funded company which owns and procures ferries for the Scottish Government with the possibility they could end up rejected.
They were designed with "rigorous requirements" involving using cleaner fuel, and future-proofing them for the advent of tighter regulations around sulphur emissions.
The two separate contracts for both vessels signed in October 2015, show that they were to be identical in design and constructed in the same shipyard.
One of the issues is that the specification included a requirement to regularly operate at 14.5 knots.
Ferguson Marine executives said over four years ago that both ducktail features were needed to meet the requirements.
Ferry action group chairman Sam Bourne, a graduate of the University of Strathclyde naval architecture and small craft engineering department said: "It is such a terrible mess. The whole thing is complete confusion and it affects the performance of the boats.
"Fitting a ducktail now is bound to further delay the completion of the vessel.
"And if it is needed on 802 why is it not on Glen Sannox which has the same hull. You are going to have two boats that do not meet the spec that was given and are not identical.
"If one has it and the other hasn't it just won't meet the performance targets set.
"If the boats don't meet the performance specifications, CMAL can refuse it and then who owns these vessels.
"If you have an inefficient hull form, they will cost more money to operate, and the green criteria they try to hit, you can throw those in the bin.
"Serious questions have to be asked of those who run the businesses at the time to allow this."
The need for the ducktails on both vessels was stated in papers relating to a claim for additional payment made by Ferguson Marine launched over the £97m contract to build the two ferries.
Tycoon Jim McColl-led Ferguson Marine went into administration in August, 2019 following a dispute with CMAL over the construction of the ferries under a £97m fixed price contract.
Ferguson Marine said there had been "unforeseen complexities" with the project, leading to extra costs.
The Herald on Sunday previously revealed that ministers had ensured there was a "right to buy" for the Port Glasgow shipyard when it provided a £30m loan nearly four years ago knowing it was creating a path to a controversial state ownership.
The Scottish Government then pushed ahead to take full control of of the shipyard company as it went under with blame attached to soaring costs of the ferry contract - which have now more than doubled.
Ministers believe they were acting in the public interest in taking control of Ferguson Marine, as it saved the yard from closure, rescued more than 300 jobs and ensured that the two vessels under construction will be completed.
Documents seen by the Herald show that Ferguson Marine said that the 14.5 knot operating performance had presented a "number of design difficulties exacerbated because of the dual fuel requirement.
And it had contacted CMAL a the end of 2016 about the need to install the ducktails after "poorer than expected" vessel power results and that the addition was need to "achieve the required speed".
Papers relating to Ferguson Marine's extra costs claim state that "prevarication" over the ducktail caused delays to the project.
According to the papers, in March, 2017, CMAL wanted to investigate the possibility of easily adding and removing ducktails to both vessels.
But by then CMAL had said that no ducktail was to be fixed to Glen Sannox, while no decision had been made over whether it should be installed.
Ferguson Marine at this point described a "scattergun approach" to vessel design by CMAL and "no co-ordinated system of review and approval".
It says three months were wasted on what Ferguson Marine said was the "futile exercise" on aggreing a propeller specification alone.
"Subsequent model making, tank testing and yet further prevarication by CMAL on the use of a duck tail meant there were long delays to the start of fabrication of the stern and bow blocks," Ferguson Marine said in its 2018 claim.
The specification called for 1,000 passenger seats – 650 inside and 350 outside. But Ferguson Marine said that in 2018 CMAL requested the removal of seats to “improve accessibility”.
Delivery dates for the two lifeline ferries are expected to fall further behind schedule because of technical issues with both vessels and the progression of the Omicron variant, according to the outgoing £793,000-a-year turnaround director Tim Hair.
In his final analysis before leaving his post he said that at their request state-owned Ferguson Marine have for some time been in discussion with Scottish Government, Transport Scotland and CMAL regarding the ducktail which have "the potential to impact the schedule for delivery".
There were also delays in the installation of pipework on Glen Sannox.
"Actions are in place to increase resource and recover the shortfall in early 2022, but this is an important area and represents a critical risk to the delivery of 801," Mr Hair said.
"Delivery of [Glen Sannox] in the time window described is achievable but remains challenging. The planned increase in production activity in January and February is critical to the achievement of this delivery schedule," he said.
He also warned that the equipment for the ferries that has already been installed may have deteriorated.
"Although surveys, remediation and replacement have taken place under government ownership there is an unquantifiable risk that equipment problems may emerge during commissioning," he said.
Mr Hair, who was appointed after the shipyard went into administration in 2019 is to be replaced by a new chief executive David Tydeman, who has worked for several decades in the marine, shipbuilding and offshore industries.
Mr Hair, who was charged with implementing a major transformation programme for the troubled shipyard, which recently missed out on an order to build two new CalMac ferries insisted that the ferry delivery schedules remains on track.
But he conceded that 'areas of note' have been identified as potential obstacles to achieving those target dates.
A 2020 Holyrood probe into the construction of the ferries branded the management process a "catastrophic failure".
A CMAL spokesman said: “We are satisfied that the vessels meet the required specification, and are continuing to work closely with Transport Scotland, Scottish Government and Fergusons to manage the delivery of the two vessels.”
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