MV Isle of Islay, the first of four Turkish-built vessels ordered to modernise Scotland’s west coast ferry network, now faces another delay after maritime regulators raised issues during final inspections, prolonging pressure on a vital whisky and freight route.
UK maritime regulators flagged issues during final inspections at the Cemre shipyard in Turkey, forcing further work and pushing back delivery to Scotland.
The MV Isle of Islay, a 95m roll-on/roll-off passenger and vehicle vessel destined for the Kennacraig–Islay route, is the lead ship in a four-vessel programme commissioned by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) and built by Cemre Marin Endustri in Yalova, north-west Turkey.
Originally, the contract called for the first Islay ferry to be delivered by October 2024, but the programme has slipped repeatedly amid global supply chain disruption, material delays and a shortage of specialist labour.
New regulatory hurdle
In the latest setback, CMAL told Holyrood’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee that the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) carried out a major inspection at the Cemre yard in late October, raising issues that must be rectified before the vessel can be certified and handed over. A further MCA visit is scheduled for 8 December, leaving a narrow window to complete remedial work and secure approvals.
According to a CMAL letter cited in the BBC report on the latest delay, the company said: “Provided that all finishing tasks proceed without complications, the shipyard aims to deliver the MV Isle of Islay before the Christmas season. This presents a challenge, CMAL CalMac Cem, and the regulatory bodies are all diligently and collaboratively striving to achieve this target delivery date just ahead of the holiday period.”
Only once the MCA is satisfied, and CMAL’s own acceptance tests are complete, can the vessel be handed over and begin its delivery voyage.
The transit from Turkey will include a refuelling stop in Gibraltar and a passage across the Bay of Biscay, after which the ship will undertake crew training and berthing trials at multiple west coast ports before entering service. That means the ferry is unlikely to be available to operate regular sailings immediately, even if it leaves the yard around Christmas.
From “on time and on budget” to repeated slippage
When steel was first cut in October 2022 and the keel laid in January 2023, CMAL and Scottish ministers presented the Islay vessels as a flagship example of getting ferry procurement back “on time and on budget” after years of controversy at the publicly owned Ferguson Marine yard on the Clyde.
In official statements, CMAL and the Scottish government said the first vessel was “expected to be delivered by October 2024” with a second ship following in early 2025, bringing “an almost 40% increase vehicle and freight capacity on the Islay routes, a reduction in emissions and improve the resilience of the wider fleet.”
That timetable has slipped several times, with CMAL adjusting the expected delivery to late 2024, then to the first half of 2025, blaming supply chain disruption linked to the war in Ukraine, Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes and a shortage of commissioning engineers.
While CMAL stresses that the Turkish programme remains within its contractual budget envelope, the widening gap between original delivery promises and actual handover risks fuelling further political scrutiny of Scotland’s ferry investment programme.
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Shadow of the Ferguson “ferry fiasco”
The Turkish contracts were deliberately placed overseas after the high-profile failures at Ferguson Marine, where two LNG-powered ferries for CalMac — MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa — are running around six to eight years late and at more than four times their original combined contract cost of £97m.
If the yard manages to meet its “before the Christmas season” delivery aim, MV Isle of Islay could still enter service during the winter 2025–26 timetable period, bringing long-promised extra resilience to the Islay and Jura routes. Any further slippage, however, will intensify frustration among island communities and renew pressure on ministers over the pace and reliability of Scotland’s ferry renewal programme.
