Scotland's Ferguson Loses Scottish Ferry Contract to Remontowa
Scottish government-owned ferry agency CMAL has awarded a contract for seven small electric ferries to Polish yard Remontowa, snubbing a bid from the Scottish government's own shipyard, Ferguson Marine. The decision leaves Ferguson without orders for new tonnage, except for a module construction contract for BAE Systems.
Ferguson said that its bid led the tender on measurements of quality, but Remontowa won the contract on price. The two yards have been competitors in the same segment for years, and the loss could have an effect on Ferguson as it seeks to rebuild its orderbook.
In a statement, CMAL said that it had to follow Scottish public procurement law, and Remontowa's bid came out on top under the tender formula. "We are confident in Remontowa’s ability, and have worked with them before, most recently with the delivery of the MV Finlaggan in 2011. We will now enter a 10-day standstill period before finalizing the contract," said CMAL CEO Kevin Hobbs in a statement.
Scottish opposition politicians slammed the award and said that it should have been handed to Ferguson directly, without a tender process. "It should be a given that a nationalized shipyard wins a Scottish government contract," said Scottish Conservative spokesperson Sue Webber. "It could yet prove the death knell for the yard."
Ferguson's reputation for quality took a turn for the worse during the construction of CMAL's long-delayed LNG ro/pax ferries, Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa. The project underwent multiple design changes and rounds of rework, and the costs forced Ferguson into administration in 2019. The Scottish government bought the yard out of bankruptcy and managed it through the completion of the two ferries; the project ended up four times over budget and six years behind schedule.
After years of work, Glen Sannox finally entered service in January 2025. The ferry was briefly taken out of service on Friday due to a newly-discovered hull crack at a weld seam. It was repaired, and the vessel returned to commercial operations on Sunday.
Leadership turnover has been comparatively high at Ferguson. The yard's interim CEO, John Petticrew, resigned Thursday after less than 12 months in the role. He had been expected to depart in November, but the board could not recruit a permanent CEO to replace him, and he agreed to stay on until April while the board sought a successor. He chose to depart last week instead, citing family reasons.
Petticrew's predecessor, David Tydeman, was fired by the yard's government-appointed board after a series of unexpected delays and technical problems.
"We remain focused on securing a sustainable and prosperous future for the yard and are very close to announcing a permanent CEO to replace John Petticrew. We look forward to providing more detail on this very soon," Ferguson's chief financial officer David Dishon told BBC.