CMAL dismisses shipyard claims on LNG ferries contract

Scottish state-owned shipping company Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) issued a comment regarding the delays in delivery of the two dual-fuel ferries.

The dual-fueled vessels can operate on LNG and diesel and are designed to carry 127 cars or 16 HGVs, or a combination of both and up to 1,000 passengers.

However, following the financial collapse of the Ferguson Marine shipyard that took on the LNG-ferries build job, the delivery deadline has been pushed back several times from the original one set for early 2018.

The shipyard has been taken over by the Scottish government in a push to enable the completion of the two LNG-fuelled ferries. However, the vessels are still to be delivered, although the first of the pair, the Glen Sannox, was launched in November 2017 and, at the time, the delivery was pushed back to winter 2018/19 which also did not occur.

CMAL’s chief executive Kevin Hobbs addressed the claims made by the shipyard, which were noted as the main reasons for the delay of the deliveries.

“There are three key areas I’d like to address: firstly, the claim that these vessels are prototypes; secondly, that CMAL requested hundreds of design changes; and finally, the £66 million compensation claim,” Hobbs said.

He added that the vessels are the first such vessels to be built in Scotland, however, vessels are by no means prototypes with hundreds of LNG vessels built and operational globally. “The engine manufacturer, Wartsila, has delivered over 2,000 dual-fuel engines since 2003,” Hobbs said.

In regards to the design changes, Hobbs noted that out of the total of 81 changes made throughout the process, 46 have been requested by the shipyard and 35 by the operator, with CMAL paying an additional £1.5 million ($1.96 million) for the changes.

However, Hobbs added that the design and build errors made by the shipyard had to be rectified due to the yard’s decision to cut steel before the “design stage was completed and without sign-off by CMAL, the Marine Coastguard Authority (MCA) and the classification society, Lloyds.”

Commenting on the £66 million compensation claim submitted by the shipyard, Hobbs added that the was no contractual or technical basis for the claim.