Scotland's 'green' ferry to run on diesel for nine months
One of the ferries in a controversial Scottish government contract will initially only operate on diesel - despite being built to also run with liquefied natural gas .Builder Ferguson Marine has told MSPs a "technical issue" had delayed part of the LNG system by at least nine months.The technical issue relates to delays in the supply of sensors needed for the LNG fuel system.
He said: "Our emerging proposal to deal with this is to maintain the programme for handover of the ship by the end of May latest, initially running only with the diesel, single fuel system. Advocates of LNG argue that it is less harmful to the environment than traditional marine fuels such as oil or diesel.
"Surely it was known these sensors would be needed but now we are going to be left with a gas guzzling, climate-busting ferry for at least the first nine months of its service."The two vessels being built by Ferguson Marine, Glen Sannox and the unnamed Hull 802, will be more than £150m over budget and five years late when eventually delivered.