MV Glen Sannox (2017)

MV Glen Sannox is a car and passenger ferry constructed at Ferguson Marine in Port Glasgow for the Scottish Government asset company CMAL, to lease to its ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne. Entering service informally to the Isle of Arran on 12 January 2025, formally on 13 January 2025, she is the first of two dual-fuel CalMac ferries, capable of operating on either marine gas oil, or LNG which offers a marked reduction in sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions, the other being the MV Glen Rosa. The ship's name recalls an earlier Arran ferry.

In 2015, six shipyards bid for fixed price contracts to design and build the two ships. Ferguson Marine (FMEL), the only Scottish bidder, offered to do this for £97M total. On 31 August, before negotiations were completed, the government announced them as preferred tenderer. FMEL had been formed s year earlier when Jim McColl rescued the shipyard from bankruptcy, it now told CMAL that it could not provide the contractually required bank-backed guarantee. FMEL had already raised this directly with Scottish Government ministers, who decided the government would take on the risks, and the contracts were awarded on 16 October 2014.

FMEL began construction before its detailed design, causing errors and delays when work had to be redone. In July 2017 FMEL claimed £17.5 million more, but CMAL dismissed the claim as not valid. The ship was substantially incomplete when launched on 21 November 2017, and the dispute escalated with further delays and claims. In August 2019, FMEL went into administration, having been paid £83.25 million in contract payments, and £45 million in loan payments from the Scottish Government.

The shipyard was nationalised on 2 December 2019 as a new company named Ferguson Marine (Port Glasgow) Ltd., then increasing costs and further lengthy delays became a continuing political scandal, the "ferry fiasco".

The ship's sea trials began in February 2024, and she was moved to Inchgreen Quay in Greenock, freeing the Newark Quay at the shipyard for the launch of MV Glen Rosa. After difficulties in completing the LNG power system, there were further delays. Filling the LNG tank (bunkering) was completed by 18 September, and sea trials using LNG began on 20 September. Manufacturer's sea trials were successfully completed on 23 October. On 19 November, Ferguson Marine announced that the vessel had passed its final certification checks and been issued with a passenger certificate. The ship was handed over to CMAL on 21 November. Following crew familiarisation trials by CalMac, the ship entered revenue-earning service on the Troon to Brodick route on 12 January 2025, and her first voyage in timetabled operation was on 13 January.