YOU TRASHED SHIPYARD'S REPUTATION

THE Scottish Government has "destroyed Ferguson Marine's reputation" according to the shipyard's former owner.
Businessman Jim McColl spoke out after it was announced seven new vessels for the CalMac ferries fleet will be built in Poland instead of the government-owned Ferguson Yard in Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire.
He accused the SNP of doing a "hatchet job on the yard" to divert attention from the Scottish Government's botched handling of earlier ferry contracts.
McColl rescued the Port Glasgow shipyard from administration when he bought it in 2014.
The contract to build the two Arran ferries for CalMac was announced by the Scottish Government the following year.
But the delivery of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa was a disaster, running seven years late with costs approaching four times the initial estimate of £97million.
McColl said: "The yard is perfectly capable. The government have patronised the workforce by saying, 'Oh, they're a great workforce' and so on.
"Whilst at the same time, having a very effective campaign about doing a real hatchet job on the yard to divert attention away from what was a huge problem that they had early on.
"It's all nonsense. This is all their spin. And it's a real mess that they've got it into."
The ferries are owned by harbour authority CMAL, which leases them to CalMac and is owned by the Scottish Government. McColl said the specifica- tion from CMAL to Ferguson Marine for the two delayed Arran ferries "was a real mess". The ferries had to ru...