THE new Ardrossan to Arran ferry has been delayed yet again after what has been branded a “blunder” by the shadow transport minister.

An STV report revealed that the MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) delivery would be pushed back further, having already been delayed due to Covid-19.

The vessel, which would serve the Ardrossan to Brodick route, was scheduled to be delivered between July and September of this year, however this latest setback means we no longer know when it will be ready.

Glen Sannox is being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow, and along with its sister vessel, relies on a complex network or more than 9,800 cables.

Around Christmas time, engineers unwound coils of these cables, which were installed in late 2018/early 2019, to find some of them were too short to reach necessary equipment.

After weeks of investigation, engineers have concluded that at least 400 cables will need to be addressed, with this potentially rising to as many as 939.

In most cases, the cables will need to be cut and the process restarted.

In a letter, Ferguson Marine’s turnaround director Tim Hair said it was not currently possible to determine the impact on schedule and cost of the problem.

Scottish Conservative shadow transport minister Graham Simpson MSP said: “Glen Sannox is already years late, and this blunder will leave people wondering if it will ever go into service.

“The ship was meant to support one of CalMac’s busiest crossing routes between Ardrossan to Brodick but this further hold-up means passengers will have to make do even longer with ageing and increasingly- unreliable ferries.”

Those having to travel to and from the island have been growing increasingly frustrated with many services being cancelled recently due to ferry breakdowns as the current fleet becomes older.

The faulty cables were installed by a sub-contractor, prior to the shipyard going into administration, meaning they were not installed after the Scottish government took control of the yard.

Turnaround director, Mr Hair, is set to leave the Government owned business this month, with the timetable for the two lifeline ferries running over four years late at a cost of more than double the agreed £97m “fixed price”.

He will be replaced by David Tydeman, the former chief executive of Oyster Yachts, a luxury sailboat manufacturer that went under in 2018 with him at the helm.