Ferguson Marine chief executive David Tydeman sacked after two years

The industry veteran took over the reins of the nationalised yard in February 2022, taking over from ‘turnaround’ boss Tim Hair who had led the business since 2019.

Mr Tydeman’s impressive CV included experience in shipbuilding, offshore projects, capital infrastructure, and mergers, acquisitions and turnaround operations from a career spanning four decades.

He immediately turned his attention to the delivery of Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa, the two CalMac ferries at the yard which were at that point already massively overdue and overbudget.

In March 2023, Mr Tydeman wrote to Scottish Ministers to request that the delivery dates for Glen Sannox be pushed back to no later than the end of 2023, with the date for Glen Rosa moved to no later than the end of 2024.

However, delays have continued to plague the two vessels which has resulted in both of these targets being missed.

Mr Tydeman had in recent weeks tried to highlight progress on Glen Sannox following successful sea trials earlier this year. 

Latest timescales, updated in February, had Glen Sannox’s delivery date penned in for late May this year, but this now looks to have been pushed back.

Glen Rosa is due to be completed by September next year at the latest.

In 2022, a number of Ferguson Marine workers who took part in an informal meeting with MSPs praised Mr Tydeman's leadership and compared him favourably to the shipyard's previous management.

In addition to focusing on the delivery of the two ferries at the yard, Mr Tydeman also sought to chart a longer-term course for the business.

To this end a request was made for £25m of extra investment in the yard from the Scottish Government, which it was believed would help raise productivity and make the yard more competitive when bidding for contracts.

However, the Scottish Government did not make any commitment to fund the requested upgrades and the yard are due to submit a refined business case this month.