Tycoon Jim McColl has attacked the chief executive of beleaguered nationalised shipyard firm Ferguson Marine for "spewing out misinformation" by putting much of the blame for the ferry fiasco on issues caused by his ownership.
Mr McColl said that David Tydeman has never spoken to him about the reasons for the soaring costs and increasing delays to two key lifeline vessels still languishing at the Inverclyde yard - and challenged him to discuss it with him publicly saying: "He hasn't a clue what went on."
The businessman's concerns surfaced after it was estimated the cost of the vessels could reach £400m - without the millions pumped into the shipyard firm to keep it running.
The sum, which does not include the millions pumped into nationalised Ferguson Marine to keep it operating, amounts to over four times the £97m contract cost for the two lifeline ferries still awaiting delivery in the Inverclyde shipyard.
READ MORE: Jim McColl: Tycoon demands deeper probe into Scotland's ferry fiasco
Mr Tydeman indicated that it will cost an extra £240 million to build Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa on top of what was spent before nationalisation.
Some £83.25 million was spent on the ferries prior to Scottish Government taking control of the shipyard firm with a further £45m loaned.
Ministers are due to carry out due diligence over the extra costs of the ferries since the last update in June with estimates suggesting it is to rise by up to £40m in just three months.
The first of the ferries, Glen Sannox was due in March 2024 but there remain doubts over whether that schedule will be met with Mr Tydeman saying it will "depend on how well the trials progress". It is believed Glen Rosa is now not due to be completed until May 2025.
After a summer update, CalMac had expected Glen Sannox to be handed over in December 2023, and Glen Rosa in December 2024. They say that once handed over there will be a two month period where they will carry out crew familiarisation and network trials.
This makes Glen Sannox over six years late as it was originally due at the end of 2017, whilst Glen Rosa will be more than seven years late as Transport Scotland originally said it would be delivered ‘some months after’ the first vessel.
Mr Tydeman blamed half of the large increase from the original budget on what happened before nationalisation of Ferguson Marine in 2019 and in the first year after the Scottish Government took charge.
READ MORE: Concern over future of ferry fiasco ships after safety audit fail
He said some of the delays and extra costs were the result of wrong decisions taken before nationalisation through an "unconventional build strategy, embedding significant design challenges, gaps and errors".
He also said decisions taken after nationalisation in 2020, before he took the helm of Ferguson Marine were partly to blame.
These included changing the contractors for the overall ship-wide operating systems, tasking new designers with "an impossible timeline".
Mr McColl, one of Scotland's wealthiest men, said: "I am really annoyed at Tydeman making comments on things he has no knowledge about.
"I think he should stop making comments about the faults that happened pre-nationalisation because he hasn't a clue what went on and he is making these statements without having any knowledge of what went on. I would be very happy to meet with him and explain to him what happened.
"I am quite happy to show him all the evidence that went before."
The entrepreneur, who is one of the key forces behind Scotland's newest bank, Alba, added: "Mr Tydeman needs to stop spewing out misinformation. I don't know whether he has been told to do it by the government, but I would happy to meet him privately and I would be very happy to debate with him publicly about it because he is wrong doing this."
Mr Tydeman refused to comment on Mr McColl's response.
The two lifeline ferries for Scottish Government-owned CalMac were ordered in 2015 when Ferguson Marine was owned by Mr McColl, a then pro-independence businessman who rescued the Inverclyde shipyard firm from administration a year earlier.
After Mr McColl's Fergusom Marine entered administration in August 2019 amidst delivery delays and escalating costs, the tycoon blamed delays and cost overruns of an estimated £60m on late design changes. The government-owned ferry owning and procurement agency Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) blamed the yard for the issues.
By then Ferguson Marine had received £83.25m in milestone payments from CMAL and £45 million in loan payments from the Scottish Government - yet the vessels were largely incomplete.
Concerns have recently been raised that regulatory clearances for two ferries at the centre of Scotland's ferry fiasco were not made in good time - after it emerged they failed to comply with safety rules that are seven years old.
Safety clearances for Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa were rejected on June 1, sparking a redesign.
Among the issues to be resolved surrounds the installation of the evacuation routes on Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa in order to satisfy the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), which is responsible for implementing British and international maritime law and safety policy.
It emerged that according to MCA, Ferguson Marine approached the safety body about the escape routes on April 11, 2023 and the plan was rejected sparking a redesign.
The issues related to 2016 cargo ship rules and linked to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) which states the requirements for means of escape.
David Tydeman, chief executive of nationalised Ferguson Marine has said that the issues had been the result of the MCA reassessing cargo ship rules.
The MCA in answer to a question about whether there were any rule changes said there had not been any. But they said there had been an "interpretation" of what was required and indicated that that could already be seen in other CalMac vessels.
It said that the issues came as part of an approval process during the build, where they identify areas of non-compliance. It is then for the designer or builder to then decide how to address the matters.
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