FERRY firm CalMac’s woes in Turkey underline the need for ministers to deliver on their pre-election promises to award contracts to Ferguson’s shipyard instead, GMB Scotland said yesterday.

The union hit out at ministers’ failure to sign-off on the direct award of contracts for new CalMac ferries last month, as the publicly owned Inverclyde yard announced plans to axe 70 jobs.

Now, writing to Holyrood’s transport committee, Scotland’s Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn has revealed that contracts for three new ferries, awarded to Cemre shipyard in Turkey, are running £20 million over budget.

He also highlighted that publicly-owned CMAL – owner of CalMac’s ferries – had been forced to take formal ownership of the vessels before completion amid uncertainty over the Turkish yard’s future. 

GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour said: “Instead of helping secure the future of a shipyard that was once Scotland’s ferry factory, CMAL has rushed to send contracts to Poland, Turkey — everywhere in fact but Port Glasgow.

“CMAL and the minister in charge of it must now ensure everything possible is done to allow Ferguson Marine to turn the page and deliver the promised contracts for the kind of small ferries successfully built there for generations.”