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Ferguson Marine faces uncertainty as only 4% of a promised £14.2 million investment has been delivered, leading to potential job losses and project delays.
London, United Kingdom Aug 24, 2026 ALN: Concerns over the future of Scotland’s state-owned shipyard have deepened after it emerged that just 4% of a promised two-year £14.2 million modernisation and rescue package has been delivered.
The investment was announced by ministers in the summer of 2024 as part of a plan to secure a long-term future for Ferguson Marine, but the nationalised Port Glasgow yard is now facing a looming gap in work as its long-delayed Glen Rosa ferry nears completion.
Ministers have also yet to confirm four vessels they announced would be built at Ferguson Marine, with the plans still subject to legal, financial, and commercial checks.
The uncertainty has now been underlined by the decision to seek around 70 voluntary redundancies from a workforce of 310 staff and apprentices announced last week — almost a quarter of those employed at the yard.
Ferguson Marine said the job losses would protect the long-term viability of the yard - but unions described the move as "a betrayal of a blameless workforce".
The £14.2 million package was announced by then Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes in July 2024, when the Scottish Government said it was committed to “building a sustainable future for Ferguson Marine”.
Now Scottish Government sources have confirmed that only £570,000 has been committed over the two-year programme, with 11 funding requests approved, directed towards essential repairs and new equipment to improve the yard’s productivity.
It means that no more money has been approved since October of last year.
Ms Forbes said when the investment was announced: “The board has developed a business plan that it believes has the potential to secure a competitive future.”
She added: “Subject to independent legal and commercial analysis, the Scottish Government will provide significant new funding to support the yard’s modernisation and improve productivity.”
Work on the investment programme began in December 2024, with approved funding directed towards essential repairs and new equipment intended to improve productivity.
West of Scotland Labour MSP Katy Clark said: “It is deeply concerning that only so little of the promised capital investment to help upgrade and modernise Ferguson Marine has been delivered and an additional blow to the quarter of the yard’s workforce who now face losing their jobs.”
She added: “I have repeatedly called on the Scottish Government to deliver the promised £14.2 million investment in full and Ministers must now come forward with that investment and also with the four direct award contracts promised before the election to not only guarantee jobs, but the very future of the yard itself.”
The crisis comes as ministers continue to consider plans to directly award Ferguson Marine contracts for four new vessels – two small ferries, a fisheries research vessel, and a marine protection vessel – which were announced before the Holyrood election as a potential “bridge to the future” for the yard.
But the proposed direct awards are subject to legal, financial, and commercial checks. The Government is also still considering Ferguson Marine’s business plan, with the release of the remaining modernisation funding dependent on the outcome of that process.
The uncertainty over the direct awards comes against a background of previous legal concerns over giving Ferguson Marine work without an open competition.
Former transport secretary Fiona Hyslop confirmed that ministers had previously ruled out directly awarding the yard a major ferry contract because of subsidy-control concerns and the risk of legal challenge.
The issue is particularly significant because Ferguson Marine has struggled to establish a steady pipeline of work since it was nationalised by the Scottish Government in 2019 following its financial collapse under businessman Jim McColl.
The yard was taken into public ownership after a bitter dispute over the construction of the Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa ferries, which were originally due to enter service in 2018. Glen Sannox finally entered service in 2025, while Glen Rosa is expected to be completed this year after years of delays and massive cost increases.
Concerns have further been raised about how more than £500 million of ferry contracts have been awarded by Scottish Government-owned ferry procurer CMAL to shipyards overseas, including in Turkey, Poland, and China.
CMAL awarded £91 million to Turkish shipbuilder Cemre in March 2022 for two ferries, followed by a further contract worth up to £115 million for two more vessels from Turkey in January 2023.
Since then, CMAL awarded £147.54 million for seven ferries to a Polish shipyard in March 2025, followed by a £175 million contract for two vessels to a Chinese shipbuilder in June 2026.
Chris McEleny, the former SNP leader in Inverclyde and former general secretary of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, has been involved in two task forces which previously worked to prevent Ferguson Marine from entering administration.
He said: “The main issue at Ferguson’s is it has only seen a shadow of investment since it was nationalised in contrast to the millions Jim McColl invested in the five years between 2014 and 2019.”
He said the immediate future depended on the proposed direct awards but argued that ministers needed to go much further than simply keeping Ferguson Marine supplied with occasional contracts.
“The immediate future of the yard will be sustained by directly awarding Scottish Government ferry contracts to the yard. The Government has been looking at the legal implications of this since 2020; they should just get on with it,” he said.
He added: “However, I don’t just want a yard on life support that limps forward relying on CMAL orders, so the Scottish Government should commit the funding to build a shed big enough to build large sea-going vessels at the yard; we can see first hand how this sort of investment has allowed BAE Systems to thrive on the upper Clyde.”
Mr McEleny also argued that the way Scotland’s ferry fleet is managed should be changed so that work could be retained at Ferguson Marine during periods when new ships are not being built.
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