What's gone wrong with CalMac's new ferries? - BBC News
Four years late and £100m over budget - but who is to blame for the problems at Ferguson shipyard?
Three years late and £100m over budget. The deal to build two new CalMac ferries for Arran and the Hebrides has run into serious trouble.

Back in 2015, the £97m order was seen as a lifeline for Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow - the last commercial yard on the Clyde which had been rescued by industrialist Jim McColl the previous year.

That contract ended up dragging the yard back into administration. The yard has been nationalised and the final cost of building the ferries will be at least double the original estimate.

So what's gone wrong? You'll get very different answers to that question, depending on who you're talking to.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay visited the shipyard after the Scottish government stepped in

Ministers have published email correspondence and a report by marine engineer Tim Hair - the "turnaround manager" appointed after they took the shipyard into public ownership.

He blames an "immature design" along with poor project management and cost controls. Here are some of the key points.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined Jim McColl and the Ferguson workforce for the slipway launch of Glen Sannox in 2017

A self-made billionaire who transformed the ailing Clyde Blowers into a successful portfolio of engineering investment companies, Jim McColl claimed he was "begged" to step in and rescue the Ferguson shipyard when it went bust in 2014.

One of the most prominent business figures to support Scottish independence ahead of the referendum of that year, he enjoyed a close relationship with the Scottish government, sitting on its council of economic advisers.

But the ferry problems have strained that relationship, with Mr McColl laying the blame at the door of Caledonian Marine Assets Ltd (CMAL) the Scottish government-owned company that owns the ferries used by CalMac.

Caledonian Marine Assets Ltd is the Scottish government-owned body that owns the ships and other infrastructure used by the state-owned ferry operator CalMac. CMAL - the customer in the ferry deal - emphatically rejects Jim McColl's versions of events.
• None Call to 'scrap CalMac ferries and start again'