Remontowa Shipbuilding in Poland has won a tender to build a fleet of small ferries for CalMac.
Ferguson Marine of Port Glasgow missed out on the £175 million contract which was a vital cog in its five year recovery plan to keep the yard in work.
However, Scottish Government agency, Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal), announced today the seven electric powered ships would be constructed in Gdansk in in Poland.
A 10-day standstill period will now kick off before the final contract conclusion
which allows an opportunity for rival bidders to challenge Cmal’s decision.
Handing the contract to Ferguson’s through a direct award without allowing the competition a chance to bid was previously ruled out due to legal reasons.
The Small Vessel Replacement Programme (SVRP) will see the fleet of identical ferries designed for small island communities on the west coast.
However, plans to build three new ferries for the Western Isles inter-island links
are excluded from this first phase of small ferry building. Badly needed replacements
for MV Loch Alainn on the Sound of Barra service and MV Loch Portain which plies
between Berneray and Leverburgh are not expected until around 2030.
The inter-island ferries are proposed to be delivered in a second stage of the project,
which will be procured through a separate competitive tender process later this year.
Remontowa Shipbuilding was one of six yards invited to tender for the current contract, following an initial exercise to identify suitably qualified and experienced shipyards.
Five yards returned responses and Cmal says bids were robustly assessed against technical and financial criteria, with a 65% / 35% weighting, respectively.
The panel scoring the bids consisted of third party marine specialists and experts from Cmal.
When scores across criteria were combined, Remontowa’s bid achieved the highest score and was identified as the winning yard.
Transport secretary, Fiona Hyslop, said: “I welcome this milestone being reached in the procurement to build and deliver seven new small vessels to our ferry network.
“These seven new vessels will help improve connectivity and resilience for island residents, businesses and communities, and their electric operation will contribute to reduced carbon emissions from Scotland’s ferry fleet and make ferry travel more sustainable.
“I appreciate all the work that has gone into getting us to this important stage of the procurement process, particularly by Cmal, and am hopeful that we can look forward to contracts being signed at the end of the required standstill period.”
Kevin Hobbs, chief executive of Cmal said: “It is our responsibility to follow the public procurement strategy for Scotland and appoint a yard capable of producing quality vessels which meet the needs of islanders, but that also deliver the best value for the public purse.
“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 finalising the contract.”
Duncan Mackison, CalMac's chief executive officer, said: "Confirming the lead bidder is a significant milestone for CalMac, and we're excited to welcome new, modern small vessels to the fleet from 2027 onwards. Small vessels are an integral part of our operation, and new tonnage will allow us to improve the resilience of our service and the experience customers have on these routes.
"These seven new vessels, when combined with the six major new vessels joining the fleet in 2025 and 2026, will mean a third of our entire fleet has been renewed."
Heavy blow for Ferguson Marine shipyard as £175 million contract to build seven new CalMac ferries awarded to Poland
17 March 2025
March 2025