The ship at the heart of Scotland's ferry fiasco is at the centre of an international scramble to fix a serious engine system fault — piling yet more cost onto an already spiralling multi-million-pound scandal, The Herald can reveal.
MV Glen Sannox - the first new large vessel to join the west coast lifeline ferry fleet in nearly a decade has been out of action since Sunday because of a recurrence of issues around a crack in its hull.
And one ferry user group official who is a marine consultant and inspector does not believe it should have been accepted until the issues which cause major vibrations were sorted.
An investigation has been launched to establish the root cause of the latest issue.
The vessel only began operating in January after being delivered by state-owned ferry firm Ferguson Marine seven years late. It has emerged that movement in the propellor has been earmarked as the reason for a crack that appeared in MV Glen Sannox's hull - which led to it being removed from service in March.
And any fix may need to be conducted on the MV Glen Rosa as well.
Ferguson Marine have said it is too early to estimate what the extra costs will be.
It comes as MV Glen Sannox remained out of action on Tuesday after being sidelined on Sunday after what was described as a "technical issue". The Herald understands the "defect" relates to the way the crack repair was completed.
Costs of delivery of Glen Sannox combined with still to be launched sister ship MV Glen Rosa are estimated to be five times the original contract price.
With ferry delivery delays, island communities have suffered regular service disruption, including cancelled sailings and major blows to local economies dependent on lifeline services for tourists and vital supplies, while an emergency catamaran ferry MV Alfred was brought in at a costs of £1m-a-month to support services.
Yesterday it was confirmed that another ferry is being chartered to cover freight sailings to and from Stornoway from October 19 and is expected to be in place to at least November 15.
A stress weld crack was "temporarily" repaired on the Glen Sannox in March - but an official record of a June meeting with MSPs seen by The Herald showed that the reason for it was that the propellor can "move in different directions".
An official record of a June meeting with MSPs says that a solution has been sought by contacting experts at the University of Strathclyde and internationally, "rather than trying to fix by adding more steel", the meeting record states.
Any fix for the Glen Sannox is expected to take place when it is due for its first annual maintenance check in November.
According to the record, if there is a need to make changes on MV Glen Rosa as well, then this "could also happen" during dry dock pre-delivery or could happen post-delivery for example when it goes in for scheduled maintenance, subject to agreement with state-owned ferry owner and procurer Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL).
A marine consultant and inspector who is the independent traveller representative on the Arran Ferry Committee said of the development: "Man alive.
"In the real world, you wouldn't have accepted the ship. On builder's trials you would say that you have to fix it. In any other real world [commercial] situation the ship wouldn't be accepted in this condition.
"Ultimately the government will have to pay for it."
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"Things that are vibrating have a fatigue life and things will crack and to the best of my understanding they have got a recurrence issue."
Users have told The Herald how of the two ferries operating from Troon to Arran it is the catamaran MV Alfred - chartered for nearly two years from Pentland Ferries - that has become the 'reliable workhorse' despite being six years older than Glen Sannox which finally started taking passengers in January.
And new data seen by The Herald shows that between April 24 and June 12, 2025, the lifeline service cancellation rate on the Arran route for the catamaran had a cancellation rate of 4.5% while for other original CalMac vessels - including MV Glen Sannox, MV Isle of Arran and Mv Catriona it was 13.8%.
Another ferry user group official said: "It is quite incredible that after all the years of waiting for it to finally come that after a matter of months these problems have surfaced.
"We can only hope that these issues are dealt with and at minimum costs."
When the sleek new ferry was 'launched' down the slipway of Ferguson Marine’s Port Glasgow yard in November 2017, it was hailed as a symbol of a revitalised shipbuilding industry and a cleaner, greener future for Scotland’s island communities.
When Nicola Sturgeon oversaw the launch, the vessel was far from seaworthy.
Windows were missing, funnels were fake, and a wooden mock-up stood where the bridge should have been.
Yet, with shipyard jobs on the line, the event was billed as a triumph of Scottish shipbuilding.
But eight years later, the same vessel has become shorthand for one of Scotland’s most expensive and embarrassing public-sector projects — a ship that cost hundreds of millions more than planned and has yet to fully prove itself on the open sea.
Ordered by CMAL and operated by CalMac, she was to be the UK’s first dual-fuel ferry, capable of running on cleaner liquefied natural gas (LNG) or marine diesel.
It was to carry 127 cars or 16 HGVs along with 852 passengers and was earmarked to serve the busy Arran route from Ardrossan to Brodick.
CMAL hailed it as a “step change in ferry design”.
Ferguson Marine said before the latest issue that the crack was temporarily fixed with "full class approval", They said the underlying issue which caused the crack "will be addressed during dry dock and the programme of work for that is still being finalised as are any potential associated costs".
CalMac said they hoped that Glen Sannox would return to full service on Thursday or Friday of this week "based on currently available information".
A CMAL spokesman said: “All vessels go through a stringent globally recognised approval process before being handed over. The Glen Sannox is no different and gained full approval from all relevant agencies before her entry into service.”
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