Glen Sannox on sea trials

[AndrewE]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-68283629:

A CalMac ferry being built at Ferguson shipyard on the Clyde has sailed under its own power for the first time, eight years after construction began.
MV Glen Sannox made a short journey downriver as it begins sea trials ahead of delivery this summer. Etc.

I can't find it (even its name) on maritime AIS, Anybody got any suggestions for tracking it?

 

[theironroad]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-68283629:

I can't find it (even its name) on maritime AIS, Anybody got any suggestions for tracking it?

It comes up on Marine Traffic app under Glen Sannox.

Currently showing underway using engine.

Currently SW of Wemyss Bay in Firth.

 

[Buzby]

MarineTraffic AIS is showing it!

 

[AndrewE]

Thank you both.
A

 

[DarloRich]

it lives! This has taken far to long to happen! I hope entry into service is smooth and faultless.............

 

[Blindtraveler]

it lives! This has taken far to long to happen! I hope entry into service is smooth and faultless.............

I admire your optimism but don't share it, it would give me a lot of pleasure to be proved wrong but this morning I had a text message from my old neighbour asking me if we should start a book on how long it takes it to leak, breakdown or just rattle itself to bits for stop but as I say it would be fantastic to see it in service very soon and relieving some of the pressure on the large vessel fleet, they'll be no immediate retiroles as a result of this but they can perhaps do a little rearranging and maybe stop spending a million pounds a month on charter costs

 

[Cloud Strife]

it would be fantastic to see it in service very soon and relieving some of the pressure on the large vessel fleet, they'll be no immediate retiroles as a result of this but they can perhaps do a little rearranging and maybe stop spending a million pounds a month on charter costs

To be honest, the problems in Ardrossan are going to raise serious questions as to whether Glen Sannox will ever sail from there. The Irish Berth in Ardrossan is now permanently closed as the linkspan is no longer fit for use, and the Scottish Government has clearly had enough of Peel Ports and their nonsense. The Arran Berth linkspan, also currently closed, is in terrible condition and both berths need a substantial refit. Peel won't spend the money needed, the Scottish Government won't subsidise Peel, and well... who knows what will happen next.

Troon is really not suitable for the Arran service as it can't accommodate foot passengers properly, and the distance from the ferry terminal to the railway station makes it very hard for Arran passengers. So the question is: where will Glen Sannox actually sail? The problems that Caledonian Isles has with the winds in Ardrossan won't change with Glen Sannox, and with the Irish Berth no longer in use, it will mean frequent diversions to Troon whenever the winds aren't favourable.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I wonder if peel ports are simply waiting to see if there's actually going to be a vessel worth making the Investments for? They certainly don't seem short of cash for infrastructure upgrades elsewhere on their network and if I were someone sufficiently senior there I think I too would be cynical as to how and when the Scottish government were actually going to deliver something sufficiently usable for me to invest in. Assuming it all doesn't go horribly pear-shaped with the trials and vessel handover becomes imminent perhaps the investment will start, or be it horribly late and therefore as you say calling into question where and if she will sail in the interim


Presumably even the current incumbent shower of a government took intercondition port operating problems and weather conditions when ordering?

 

[jagardner1984]

The procurement may be via SG and that will rightly be scrutinised and criticised, but we must remember CMAL are the customer here, and personally I think we need to draw some lines between operational implementation issues and core strategic ones. Both are relevant but they are separate.

In the same way as government will make big decisions about for example HS2, but the individual allocation of diagrams on the 1930 from Euston is clearly not the personal responsibility of the transport secretary in London.

The Rest is Politics podcast has done quite a few good episodes on what people should expect politicians to develop expertise in, and what we should expect them to rely on the guidance of officials with specific expertise in specific areas. Rory speaking with reference particularly to the Prison Minister - of which there have been 14 since 2010. Very interesting.

Unfortunately I think the undoubted issues Glen Sannox will face and need rectified after trials, that is of course, why we do trials, have become a totemic “nothing works in this country” issue (a la “how many billion to get to Birmingham ten minutes quicker?” Ignoring all of the capacity issues) - and why I suspect future contracts will probably be tidily awarded overseas where such issues are not nearly so visible.

Until we develop some vague maturity about the issues most mechanical objects will face upon introduction, as they do literally every time on road, rail or sea, and accept there is a broader picture of economic decline and rejuvenation (presumably at the time, however misguided, SG didn’t think the inevitable mass unemployment in Inverclyde was such a great idea either) - then the path of deindustrialisation and offshoring is reinforced.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I completely agree with you, but on this issue of harbor infrastructure there is significant crossover and blurring of the lines that you so sensibly proposed. Plus I simply don't personally have a great deal of faith in the Ferguson ship building operation who themselves are not blameless for some of the issues we've experienced hence my earlier comments

 

[jagardner1984]

Indeed. I’d suggest the key finding of the inevitable public inquiry will be that ministers gave undue confidence in the ability of Ferguson to deliver at various stages of the contract.

People’s political viewpoints will determine what they think the motivations for that are - personally I don’t think mass unemployment was a particularly good option either, but the one thing we need to become better at in this country is what I would call the tipping point.

Sure, Douglas Ross and Anas Sarwar (and personally I think those who think that either will provide transformation for Scotland will be sorely disappointed) will have a lot of fun at FMQs with each loose panel or faulty propellor on these sea trials, but strategically, this boat now exists, it has cost a fortune, “lessons must be learned”, but right now it must deliver for the people of inverclyde and Arran, and additional spending must be agreed to let that happen. The cheap political jibes are not real scrutiny, and make politicians even more reticent to get things built, when after a decade of stagnation and incompetence, bold confident infrastructure development is what this country is so desperately lacking.

One wonders what the relative costs of HS2 would have been had it just been agreed and built to the initial plan, without the decade or so of dither, political re-engineering and inflation busting delay. Instead we half construct something that will half do the job.

Personally I’m glad to see Glen Sannox at sea and this whole sorry saga moving towards a conclusion.

 

[Buzby]

On a slight tangent - can anyone explain why/how the harbour lost its public accountability to become private (in this case, Peel Ports) AIUI they have bought up swathes of docks and in most of the complaints have let important infrastructure- like the linkspan’s deteriorate to a level that affects usage.

Did a Govt sell off the family silver and is now supposedly ‘blameless’? If so which one

 

[jagardner1984]

On a slight tangent - can anyone explain why/how the harbour lost its public accountability to become private (in this case, Peel Ports) AIUI they have bought up swathes of docks and in most of the complaints have let important infrastructure- like the linkspan’s deteriorate to a level that affects usage.

Did a Govt sell off the family silver and is now supposedly ‘blameless’? If so which one

Relevant to this for sure. Privatised in the 90s, Clydeport was sold to peel ports in 2003 and now owned by a billionaire in the Isle of Man. Who I’m sure has their finger on the pulse for linkspan maintenance in Ardrossan.

Port ownership is key to the wellbeing of our firths - and our country - Kenny MacAskill

Born in Leith and with the river visible from my flat, the Firth of Forth matters. So does the Clyde, its beauty never failing to please and its history , whether told through the tears of emigrants or through shipbuilding, is burned in the soul.

www.scotsman.com

 

[Blindtraveler]

And given that by 2003 this was a devolved issue on the watch of Scottish labor, I suggest their current management, who I completely agree will milk it for all its worth in the chamber but don't necessarily have the where with all to provide anything radically different should perhaps check in for a little history lesson prior to the inevitable flood of media attention be it of the new ship sets sale without a hitch variety or the SNP rust bucket might as well be cut up for tenants larger cans immediately variety

 

[Buzby]

Privatised in the 90s, Clydeport was sold to peel ports in 2003

So it was a ‘family silver’ disposal - so 20 years later, the chickens have come home to roost. I just read an advertorial in the Herald hi-lighting the investments of the Cruise Terminal, at Greenock and higher capacity cranes, but nothing on facilitating the construction of new linkspan, passenger facilities etc where (no doubt) they argue it’ll be up to the carrier to plop down a few Portacabins if they need anything extra - As P&O did at Troon on a rather windswept harbour.

The Clydeport estate (as was) in the 60’s was under-funded but had developed in an incredible resource - this would have been a Westminster-managed decline and neither Labour or the Conservatives are able to blame anyone else for the state it ended up in. Considering Peel seem to make more revenue from selling land piecemeal and shopping centres, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.

it’s about time it was seriously addressed.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Just as long as seriously addressing it doesn't give it without any thought or consideration to a new division of spt who will likely find their own creative ways of breaking it that little bit further, if they're management of things like tendered bus services is anything to go by

 

[randyrippley]

If I remember correctly the Ardrossan linkspan is third hand..........
Started off in Douglas as the Manx Line linkspan in the 1970s, then replaced by the Government one and shifted to Heysham as the second (or third?) there, then replaced again and towed to Ardrossan around ten or twelve years ago.
I believe it was Sea Trojan, the resident Heysham tug which did the towing. The linkspan had been bent and twisted a few times before it left Douglas, and didn't get much in the way of repairs at Heysham. I can remember watching it leave.

 

[AndrewE]

back to AIS: an interesting few tracks today!

 

[kylemore]

I think it's important to say that it's not only the owner/operator that has to be satisfied with these trials but also the relevant authorities and her classification society - either of which may have some spanners up their sleeves.