Steel for new Scots lifeline ferries built in Turkey sourced in China

They have already been named preferred bidder to win a £115m contract to build two more ferries for longsuffering islanders as attempts are made to shore up the nation’s ageing ferry fleet.

Now state-controlled ferry owners Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) has confirmed that steel from China is being used because sourcing materials from war-torn Ukraine has been ruled out.

Jim McColl, owner of Ferguson Marine before it fell into administration in August, 2019 and then nationalised said he was surprised that the steel was being sourced in China.

“During my ownership of the yard, we were specific about not buying steel from China, largely because of issues about quality control,” he said.

The shipbuilder which runs the last remaining shipyard on the lower Clyde was nationalised after amid a row over soaring costs and delays to the construction of lifeline island ferries Glen Sannox and Hull 802.

Scottish steel magnate Sir David Murray said he was surprised the steel had not been sourced from Scotland's last major steelworks which was formally reopened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in 2016.

The Dalzell plate mill in Motherwell was mothballed by Tata Steel in 2015, along with the Clydebridge plant in Cambuslang. About 225 jobs were lost.

It was rescued by Sanjeev Gupta’s now-troubled GFG group which took over both facilities under a deal brokered by the Scottish government's steel task force.

Dalzell has traditionally provided steel plate for industries such as shipbuilding, construction, mining, oil production and heavy vehicle manufacture.

CMAL said: “Cemre originally intended to source marine-grade steel from Mariupol in Ukraine for these two vessels, but following the outbreak of war, had to look elsewhere. We understand that they sourced highest-quality marine-grade steel from China as the chosen supplier as it was best able to meet existing production timelines within the agreed budget.”

The United Nations has accused Communist China of "serious human rights violations" in a long-awaited report into allegations of abuse in Xinjiang province.

China was also the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 2021, accounting for nearly 31 percent of the global emissions.

It has also been accused of having one of the world’s most restrictive media environments, relying on censorship to control information in the news, online, and on social media.

The Scottish government set up a steel task force after Tata announced it was mothballing its plants in Motherwell and Cambuslang, with a total loss of 270 posts.

The government later bought the mills for £1 and immediately sold them to Liberty, part of the GFG group.

The Scottish government provided Mr Gupta with a £7 million loan, which remains unpaid, to facilitate the purchase.

As part of the deal, ministers agreed to protect Tata Steel from potential future costs for the Dalzell site, while Liberty House - and its parent company, GFG Alliance - made a similar commitment to the government.

In the Islay ferries contract award, CMAL, which owns the nation's ageing ferry fleet, had invited four overseas companies to bid to build the two vessels bound for Islay - and excluded Ferguson Marine.

Now state-controlled Ferguson Marine, failed to get past the first Pre Qualification Questionnaire hurdle in the Islay ferries contract and is still struggling to produce two delayed vessels.

The award to Turkey was described by Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson as "an embarrassment for the SNP".

Transport Scotland has said it is hoped that the latest ferries to go be built in Turkey will be in place by 2026 and that they will serve the communities of Harris and North Uist, which have suffered severe disruption since the beginning of this year.

The Scottish Government agency had previously confirmed that the new ferries will be built to the same specification as those which are being designed and built in Turkey for Islay.

They say it will “speed up” the replacement of the major vessel fleet and provide a more standardised vessel type that can be used on a variety of different routes, “providing potential economies of scale and enhanced public value”.

The two new vessels are expected to be like the Islay ferries, 310 foot long with the capacity to take up to 450 passengers and 100 cars or 14 commercial vehicles.

There are now currently six major ferries in different stages of being built.

It is hoped that all the ferries will be in place by 2026 and that the two newest will serve the communities of Harris and North Uist, which have suffered severe disruption since the beginning of this year.

There are are currently six ferries of a similar size that are currently 27 years or older. They will be over 30 years old in 2026.

After 1973, when the Caledonian Steam Packet Co. acquired most of the ferries and routes and began joint Clyde and West Highland operations under the new name of Caledonian MacBrayne, the official expected life of a ferry had been 20 years.

CMAL, which owns the ferry network, and commissions new vessels has previously insisted well-maintained ferries can operate safely for 40 years.

Transport Scotland said that details over which of the ageing fleet the two ferries takes the place of are still to be worked out.

It is already known that the four vessels currently under construction will replace 38-year-old MV Isle of Arran, 37-year-old Mv Hebridean Isles and 33-year-old MV Lord of the Isles.

The two ferries at the centre of Scotland's shipbuilding fiasco, MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802, which were due online in the first half of 2018, with one to serve Arran and the other to serve the Skye triangle routes to North Uist and Harris, are at least five years late, with costs soaring from £97m to nearly £350m.

Transport minister Jenny Gilruth has previously said they intended to deploy the latest ferries on the Skye triangle routes - freeing up Hull 802 to potentially join Glen Sannox in serving Arran, one of the country's busiest routes.

The two vessels are expected to initially replace 22-year-old MV Hebrides.