A CROSS-party summit has demanded 'urgent' investment to upgrade the Port Glasgow shipyard behind the CalMac ferries fiasco and secure its future as a 'diamond in Scotland’s industrial crown'.
A group of MPs, MSPs, and councillors have written to transport secretary Neil Gray calling for him to green-light crucial funding to improve Ferguson Marine Port Glasgow (FMPG).
They say the upgrade is vital if the yard is to win new contracts and support its 250-strong workforce, 300 contractors and future generations of skilled apprentices in the Port and Inverclyde.
The politicians, attending a meeting staged by GMB Scotland along with shipyard executives, agreed that Ferguson's has the potential to play a central role in an ambitious industrial strategy for Scotland but warned that will depend on securing multi-million-pound investment in the short-term.
In a letter to Mr Gray, marked 'urgent', the Scottish Labour, SNP and Conservative representatives said the yard must be improved to make it capable of securing and delivering new orders.
They wrote: “We understand that the window is closing for an order to be made. The Scottish Government cannot miss this opportunity.
READ MORE: Behind the scenes tour of Ferguson Marine's new CalMac ferries
“There can be no future for FMPG and its workforce without this investment. We therefore write to ask for your urgent approval of the requested funding to upgrade the yard.”
Publicly-owned Ferguson's has already detailed a programme of modernisation, including a new plating line - a rolling production line to process and assemble the steel used in ship construction.
The politicians said investment to allow this equipment to be ordered was particularly urgent because there is a long backlog with the manufacturer.
All the politicians attending the summit signed the letter after the talks last month when they met Ferguson’s chief executive David Tydeman, workforce representatives and GMB Scotland officials. The signatories included Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe; Labour MSPs Neil Bibby and Alex Rowley; the SNP's Ronnie Cowan MP and Stuart McMillan MSP; and Graham Simpson MSP, the Scottish Conservatives' transport spokesman.
Gary Cook, GMB Scotland senior organiser for manufacturing, said there was no time to lose if the Scottish Government was serious about securing the shipyard’s future.
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He said: “This yard and its workers should not be criticised because of the ineptitude and incompetence of previous managers and a series of design changes.
“There is a decision to be made about its future and it has to be made now.
“If Ferguson’s is to be given the future it deserves, as a diamond in Scotland’s industrial crown, then it needs investment now to ensure modernisation goes ahead in time to secure the work it needs.
“There is no reason why these skilled workers cannot secure the yard and build a future for the generations coming behind but they need more than warm words, they desperately need financial support.”
READ MORE: Ferguson chief hopes to put ferries fiasco in past and secure bright future for yard
Mr Cook added: “The attendance of politicians of all parties at these talks and their agreement on the need to secure a future for Ferguson’s was welcome.
“It is the first time that political consensus has been forged and should signal the start of a new conversation about how the yard can start looking to the future instead of being dragged into the past.”
Labour's West Scotland MSP Neil Bibby said: “Ferguson's can and should have a bright future. The workforce deserves nothing less.
“But securing that pipeline of future work requires the Scottish Government to act now to invest in facilities at the yard, and to improve efficiencies that will help win future work."
Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson said: “The Scottish Government must say what the future holds for the yard.
READ MORE: Protecting skilled jobs at shipyard is 'top of the list' for Ferguson's boss
“If it is to survive there needs to be a plan to modernise and that’s going to require further investment.
“The government has to say very quickly how much it is prepared to put in to the yard.”
Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan said Ferguson's is hugely important for Port Glasgow, Inverclyde and Scotland, adding: “Any capital investment now is an investment for the present and future and it can make the yard competitive and profitable.
"The yard needs to look ahead to less complicated ships and the new equipment required will increase the yard's productivity.”
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