ONE of the ferries at the centre of Scotland's shipbuilding fiasco was involved in a fresh drama as it had to face the rigours of Storm Malik.

The beleaguered would-be lifeline ferry Glen Sannox which has been languishing at the state-owned Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow nearly five years after it was 'launched' by the First Minister needed assistance from two tugs as battled to stay in dock.

A video of the dramatic scenes posted by the Isle of Arran Ferry Committee showed the tugs supporting the 336 foot vessel as the storm hit the last remaining shipbuilder on the lower Clyde.

The 23-foot CMS Wrestler, was one of the tugs which gave assistance to Glen Sannox which was due to serve on one of Scotland's busiest crossing, the Ardrossan to Arran service between July and September this year - four years later than expected. Earlier this month it emerged delays in the installation of pipework on Glen Sannox could further delay putting the vessel into service.

The outgoing £793,000-a-year turnaround director Tim Hair in a final update 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.

It was officially 'launched' in November, 2017 by Nicola Sturgeon as the UK's most environmentally friendly ferry.

Glen Sannox was billed as the first dual-fuel ship in the UK to be powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) and marine gas oil and Ms Sturgeon said on launch that it was showing the way forward to the rest of Britain’s shipbuilding industry.

She at the time: “Ship launches are always emotional, but this one is particularly so because for more than a century this yard has been so much part of the local community.

“It’s great to see commercial shipbuilding return to the Clyde at Ferguson’s."

The second ferry, currently known as Hull 802, was to be delivered between April and July 2023 - five years later than scheduled - and enter service on the the Uig on the Isle of Skye to Tarbert on the Isle of Harris and Lochmaddy on North Uist.

Both ships are designed to carry 127 cars or 16 heavy goods vehicles, or a combination of both, and up to a thousand passengers.

The collapse of Ferguson Marine Engineering Limited (FMEL) in August 2019, came amid soaring costs and delays to the construction of the two ferries and resulted in a Scottish Government takeover.

Ministers have said they believe they were acting in the public interest in taking control of FMEL in August 2019, saving it from closure, rescuing more than 300 jobs, and ensuring that the two vessels under construction will be completed.

When Nicola Sturgeon 'launched' Glen Sannox.

A 2020 Holyrood probe into the construction of the ferries - Glen Sannox and an as-yet unnamed ship, known as Hull 802 - branded the management process a "catastrophic failure".