OFFICIALS have signed off on a £105m contract to have two new lifeline ferries built in Turkey.

After a 10-day standstill period, after Cemre Marin Endustri was announced as the preferred bidder for the order, the contract was finally approved by state-controlled ferry owners and procurers Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) and the Turkish shipyard firm.

The first vessel is expected to be delivered by October 2024 and will enter service following sea trials and crew familiarisation before serving Islay. The second vessel will follow in early 2025.

CMAL says the new vessels will bring an almost 40% increase in vehicle and freight capacity on the Islay routes, a reduction in emissions and improve the resilience of the wider fleet.

CMAL will now work closely with the yard to advance to the next step of the procurement process.

Officials have been in Turkey to complete the process.

The decision to rubber stamp the contract came despite the move being described as an "embarrassment" for the SNP by the Scottish Conservatives.

It also comes after CMAL were accused of acting unlawfully over the awarding of the key contract.

There has been concern that neither Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL), which owns the nation's ageing ferry fleet and procures new vessels, nor the Scottish Government had outlined what the community benefits are from giving the work to Turkey.

Ministers have previously been warned that they may have acted unlawfully by failing to give nationalised shipbuilder Ferguson Marine a look in for a £100m contract to build two new vessels to serve Islay.

The ground-breaking Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 when it was brought in was seen by many as a welcome move away from contracts awarded only on the basis of the lowest price towards those which offer the best long-term outcomes for Scotland’s communities and the environment.

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The Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard

Public contracts valued at £4m or above have specific requirements in relation to community benefits in the authority area that a contract is issued.

These should include training and recruitment, the availability of sub-contracting opportunities, partnership arrangements, provision of parts and equipment and how it is intended to improve the economic, social or environmental well-being of the area.

If no community benefits are sought in a contract, a statement must be published justifying the decision.

The concerns were raised with CMAL's head of business support Brian Fulton who said the request for community benefits had only been "advisory" and there is concern that he detailed benefits that were not the direct result of the contract.

He referenced allied port works which employ locally, the benefit of to the islanders of having new ferries, and even the fact that Inverclyde-based CMAL employ staff in Scotland.

Mr Fulton on a response to Chris McEleny, an Inverclyde councillor and general secretary of Alex Salmond's Alba Party said: "Obviously their [Turkey's] local community will benefit during the build, as will the communities of Islay, Colonsay and Kintyre as port enabling works for the vessels progress, employing locally.

"The overall benefit of these two new vessels to Islay will also be substantial over the lifetime of the vessels.

"There is also benefit to the Inverclyde community as CMAL continue to operate from their main offices there, providing high quality jobs for the surrounding area."

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But Mr McEleny told the Herald that none of the benefits were a direct result of the tender exercise so the contract will deliver "no community benefits" and was "unlawful".

He had already raised his concerns with finance secretary Kate Forbes saying that the only communities that will now benefit from the vessels' construction is Turkey.

Finance secretary Kate Forbes stated that in line with the Procurement Reform (Scotand) Act 2014, bidders for the Islay procurement process were required to detail the community benefits they are able to offer within their response to the invitation to tender.

Submissions from the four yards were being evaluated including the responses to the community benefits section included within the original contract notice.

A letter from Ms Forbes said: " A recommendation on the preferred yard for the detailed design, construction, testing, survey, equipping, completion and delivery of the Ro-Pax Ferries, including their commitments to community benefits, is expected by end February 2022 with a decision on whether to proceed with the contract expected by end March."

Ferguson Marine which runs the last remaining shipyard on the lower Clyde was nationalised after it financially collapsed in August 2019, amid soaring costs and delays to the construction of two lifeline island ferries.

It came five years after tycoon Jim McColl first rescued the yard when it went bust.

The delivery of new ferries MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802, which were due online in the first half of 2018, are now five years, with costs nearly tripling to over £250m.

Earlier this year it emerged that the completion of the long-overdue ferries had been delayed again.

The Islay route is already one of the busiest services for freight on the Clyde and Hebrides network, and CMAL says that the incoming ferries will support the island’s vital economic activity.

The four shortlisted shipyards were to submit their technical and commercial proposals for the design and construction of the two vessels.

The successful initial bids were from Damen Shipyard in Romania, Remontowa Shipbuilding in Poland, and Turkish shipyards Sefine Denizcilik Tersanecilik Turizm, and Cemre Marin Endustri.

It was confirmed Ferguson Marine embarked in a bid for the contract through the initial Pre-Qualification Questionnaire process but failed to make the shortlist.