Glen Rosa Ferry: 3,000 ton ship finally takes off six years behind schedule

they came in their hundreds to catch a glimpse of Glenn Rosa a launch day is a rare reminder of glazo ship building past but in a project that's been beset with problems it wasn't all smooth sailing right there is tornado season so we're going to have to hold on for a couple of minutes until the pilots are confident that we can launch the ship safely so it was too windy for a vessel that will serve islands off the west coast to take off on time worried looks all round and a few frantic phone calls before the thumbs up was given for the ceremonial whisky to be smashed off the side I hear by I hear name this Glen Roser and that didn't quite go to plan [Applause] either but to the relief of everyone watching GL Rosa got there in the end there she goes six years late her and her sister Bessel have be at the center on a long running procurement Scandal for the Scottish government with cost spiraling into hundreds of millions of pounds this Ferguson Marine Shipyard collapsed into Administration and was saved by the Scottish government in 2019 when issues with the fairies were discovered years late four times over budget was today a day really to be bringing out the hunting today is absolutely a day for for celebration you will have saved uh the last commercial Shipyard on the banks of the c 300 plus jobs many of uh apprentices now coming through 300 plus jobs for 400 million so there's no doubt and I would never deny that the development of the Glen sanics and the Glen Rosa has faced challenges but today as I've said is a day for celebration this is the launch of the second of the two Lifeline fairies that were core to our uh decision making and taking this yard into Administration and as I say I am proud of the Ferguson Marine Workforce for delivering that it will be at least 18 months before Glenn Rosa can take passengers Ferguson Marine's former boss David Tidman suggests that there could be further delays before he was sacked two weeks ago his replacement was at the launch today John that was a tense morning for you very much so alls well that ends well and she looks fabulous better late than ever well I'm not going to say those words but better late than ever today have you been handed a bit of a poison chalice here no I've been H I've been handed a challenge does this yard have a future there's no new contracts on the horizon is there no there there isn't but we're actively we're actively going after other contracts nobody was prepared to predict more potential delays with these fairies we're told there'll be an update next week amid the political storm is a proud Workforce what did this mean today to see that happening everything it's a sense of Pride that it's finally any water it's a sense of the Le the Islanders are are step here getting the boat so actually deserved what's the case for saving ship building here well the case is we've got a community here that shed jobs by the bucket load over the last 18 months this is the last half decent good paying job this community won't survive without it the relationship with the river CDE here runs through the generations but the future of ship building is far from certain

Channel: Channel 4 News

Views: 19,891

Keywords: Ferries, scotland, calmac, shipyard, uk news, channel 4 news, channel 4, whisky, alcohol production, drinks, fleet, turkey, scotland ferry, scotland calmac, scotland new ferry, glen rosa, glen rosa scotland, glen rosa glasgow, glen rosa calmac, scotland ferry scandal, scotland ferry latest news, scotland ferry latest

Id: pVeAMRX29JQ

Length: 3min 42sec (222 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2024