Ministers have come under fire from one of its most senior MSPs over continual delays in the procurement of a new wave of seven vital lifeline ferries for Scotland's islanders.
SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson was among those to raise concern as plans to begin the process for tender has already been delayed by over two years.
It comes as ministers have been accused of 'sleepwalking' the nationalised firm at the centre of Scotland's shipbuilding scandal into oblivion by failing to support its bid for the ferry work.
The Scottish Government has been urged to act after decisions on key work the yard is hoping to rely on has been plunged into uncertainty.
The board of state-owned shipyard firm Ferguson Marine has admitted a lack of commitment over future Scottish Government investment in upgrading facilities at the last surviving commercial shipbuilder on the Clyde, means the ability to pursue a vital Scottish Government contract to build seven small ferries "remains uncertain".
READ MORE: Four hour queues as Scots ferry 23 years past its 'sell by date' breaks down
In February, 2021, state-owned ferry owners and buyers, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited said that the procurement for the replacement vessels was "on course" to begin within the next 12 months.
In August, last year CMAL was finally expecting the first questionnaire stage of the procurement process to begin in November. It has yet to start.
Public events surrounding the procurement of the new ferries were told that the first vessel is provisionally expected to be delivered between July and August of 2026 with the last due in the last three months of 2028.
A Scottish Government infrastructure investment plan update in September, 2021 stated that all seven vessels would serve island communities "within the next five years".
Finance secretary Shona Robison previously advised that the small lifeline ferries replacement plan had been "reprofiled" as had harbour improvements at Ardrossan and Gourock.
It meant that an initial £41m spending plan on the ferries has been put back to this financial year - 2024/25.
Campaigners have been fighting for nationalised Ferguson Marine to get a direct award of the ferry contract from the Scottish Government which is already looking to do the same for ferry operator CalMac as it is the 'preferred option' for the next Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) contract.
Loss-making Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) had pinned hopes on heavy involvement in the contract from the Scottish Government's Transport Scotland agency for the replacement of up to seven 50m ageing 'loch class' ferries vessels serving the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS).
The ferries are due to be electric motor-powered modern versions of the three 42m hybrid vessels Ferguson Marine built successfully, on-time and on-budget before nationalisation, between 2012 and 2015.
Mr Gibson, who is convenor of the finance and public administration committee and whose Cunninghame North constituency covers Arran has quizzed the transport secretary Fiona Hyslop over the delays.
He said: "I'm struggling to see that it is a priority because I was asking these questions [about when procurement will start] two years ago. I asked a question about this on March 15 and indeed yesterday about when this is going to happen, and we keep getting answers like 'in the coming weeks' .
"I really don't think that is good enough. Island communities have waited years for this. The yard is already extremely nervous about its future. And we really have to have a time before the end of this parliamentary year at the end of June when a decision is made."
Ms Hyslop said she had "persistently pushed all those involved, whether it's our own officials or CMAL" over the project.
She said: "There's been a lot of good work done. We're ready to be able to go out to procurement on this. We have the funding available to do so.
READ MORE: 'What about the here and now?': Row as seven CalMac ferries sidelined in four days
"But there are a number of decisions of interrelated responsibilities within the government that have to be very carefully considered because I do want to give certainty to make sure that islanders do know that those additional vessels will be procured and they can be delivered to help them because as we know, our island communities deserve to have the service that they need, the businesses on those communities deserve that and the individuals and communities on those islands deserve that."
She added in response to an earlier question in the Scottish Parliament: "I have always acknowledged that resilience of the fleet is dependent on a renewal of that fleet.
"I can reassure everybody that the small vessel replacement program is a priority and it will be priority I am sure for the incoming First Minister."
Ferguson Marine has been dogged with issues with the delivery of lifeline ferries Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa which were due online in the first half of 2018 when Ferguson Marine was under the control of tycoon Jim McColl. With both now due to serve Arran, they are now over six years late and the costs of delivery could be more than quadruple the original £97m cost.
German ship design consultants handed £360,000 three years ago to help with the concept the seven ferries and try to provide better and greener lifeline services for Scotland's islands.
Flensburg-based Navalue, which was formed five years ago, was brought in to help provide planning direction for the project to replace some of the country's oldest vessels on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services network.
The new loch class vessels were to replace 38-year-old MV Loch Striven on the Oban to Lismore route, 38-year-old MV Loch Riddon on Largs to Cumbrae, 37-year-old MV Loch Ranza on Tayinloan to Gigha, 33-year-old MV Loch Dunvegan on Colintraive to Rhubodach, 33-year-old MV Loch Fyne on Mallaig to Armadale, 32-year-old MV Loch Tarbert on Tobermory to Kilchoan and 38-year-old MV Loch Linnhe, the relief vessel.
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