Reborn Shipyard Launches First Vessel

[Clydebuilt1971]

On Friday December 11th Ferguson Marine - formerly Ferguson Shipbuilders Ltd - based in Port Glasgow, Scotland launched their first newbuild since being reborn late 2014 by Jim McColl.

The vessel - named mv Catriona after the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson - is the third in class of new hybrid diesel / battery powered ro-ro ferry. She has Voith Schneider propulsion and can take 150 passengers and 23 cars.

Catriona, launched by Transport Minister Derek MacKay, joins her sister vessels mv Hallaig (Ferguson Shipbuilders 2013) and mv Lochinvar (Ferguson Shipbuilders 2014) will be fitted out and should undergo sea trials in April 2016 after which she will be handed over to her new owners Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) for deployment on a yet undisclosed Clyde or Hebridean ferry route.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-35065151

Clink the link above for a short news piece, launch video and a time lapse video of the vessel's build.

Ferguson Marine, whose yard is currently undergoing an £8m refurbishment programme were named as winning bidder for the build of 2 x 100m Dual Fuel ferries for CMAL earlier this year so the future of commercial shipbuilding on the Clyde looks safer than its ever been for many years!!

I didn't make the launch on Friday but come hell or high water I'll be at the launch of these two large LNG ferries!

Congrats to Fergusons - lang may yer lums reek!!

Gav

[June Ingram]

Thanks very much, Gav, for this great news, and great it is indeed.  Hopefully, more and more ships will again be forthcoming from The Clyde.  All the best to Jim McColl and Ferguson Marine !

[Greg Rudd]

In some ways I think that BAE staying at Govan was a bad move. A rebuilt state of the art Scotstoun site would give you the opportunity to build a drydock big enough to handle a ship the size of a Gerald Ford class Aircraft carrier, which would open the door to commercial work when there is a lull in defence work.
The other bright spot is that the QE class aircraft carriers show that UK builders can still make a quality well engineered product.

The one, I am keeping an eye on is Cammell Laird who have got their first decent civilian contract for the British Antarctic Survey. If they can pull that off and produce a tidy profit then they could set their sights on a say 40-70 thousand ton highly efficient luxury Cruse ship of which very few yards are building today.

[Clydebuilt1971]

Inchgreen Drydock which is just downriver from Ferguson's yard is the second largest in the UK (After one of CL's) - I don't get the logic behind BAE remaining at Govan either - the shipyard at Scotstoun is effectively non existent at the moment (apart from the main buildings) as it was demolished earlier in the year - hopefully work has started on the rebuild of the yard. All this jiggery pokery over the T26 programme and the announcement of the reduced spec frigate puts the whole thing into disarray.

Ferguson are looking at using Inchgreen to allow them to chase larger vessel builds so I'm hoping the future is brighter up here. Certainly more than it has been!

Its also good that CL are picking up orders too. They build two ferries for the Clyde which they delivered last year. I think they were CL's first new builds for a while.

Gav

[Greg Rudd]

Inchgreen Drydock which is just downriver from Ferguson's yard is the second largest in the UK (After one of CL's) - I don't get the logic behind BAE remaining at Govan either - the shipyard at Scotstoun is effectively non existent at the moment (apart from the main buildings) as it was demolished earlier in the year - hopefully work has started on the rebuild of the yard. All this jiggery pokery over the T26 programme and the announcement of the reduced spec frigate puts the whole thing into disarray.

Ferguson are looking at using Inchgreen to allow them to chase larger vessel builds so I'm hoping the future is brighter up here. Certainly more than it has been!

Its also good that CL are picking up orders too. They build two ferries for the Clyde which they delivered last year. I think they were CL's first new builds for a while.

Gav

Well it looks like CL is going to go ahead if comes off
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/business/cammell-laird-considers-massive-new-10817256