IT is highly welcome to see some good news coming out of Ferguson Marine.

The Glen Sannox has finally set sail and sea trials have been successful and positive. The vessel is due to begin serving the Arran route within the coming months.

But it is, of course, six years late and estimated to cost up to four times the original price tag.

Its sister ship, Glen Rosa, is not due until 2025 and its delivery date was recently pushed back yet again.

It has been a sorry saga, and there is much blame to go around. Where there is no blame, however, is upon the Ferguson’s workforce – they have been horribly let down by the multiple failings of various senior management teams and by this Scottish Government.

Had their warnings been heeded rather than ignored, we would not be in this mess.

I have lost count of the number of ministers who have had responsibility at one time for this fiasco – it has been an endless wave of buck-passing.

This Scottish Government has stood back and allowed the yard to wither due to their incompetence and lack of vision. The good name of skilled shipbuilders, and of Clyde shipbuilding in general, has been put in jeopardy.

The workforce deserves better. Islanders and long-suffering passengers deserve better. Scotland deserves better.

And so it is long past time that the Scottish Government, which is after all the owner of the yard and ultimately responsible for it, did right by the Ferguson’s workforce and right by Inverclyde by investing in the yard and securing a future pipeline of work.

Investment is needed to bring the facilities fully up-to-date and up-to-scratch. And the Scottish Government must show faith in the yard by committing to the direct award of ferry contracts to Ferguson’s – rather than to yards in Turkey.

There is an ageing ferry fleet across Scotland that needs replacing. The future can be bright for Ferguson’s and for Scottish shipbuilding if only the Scottish Government demonstrates some vision.