FERGUSON'S yesterday sparked job loss fears and anger after the nationalised shipyard signalled that it may not bid for a major £115m contract from its owner the Scottish Government.

Bosses at the Port Glasgow yard — which has a proud history of delivering the Caledonian MacBrayne fleet's largest ships — say they are now focusing on small vessels of around 500 tons.

The declaration, described as 'shocking', has been slammed by political figures who had been calling for ferries intended for the 'Skye Triangle' to be built in Inverclyde and not awarded to foreign yards instead.

Alba Party general secretary Chris McEleny, a former opposition leader at Inverclyde Council, said: "The Scottish Government has now had years to put the yard under good management.

"Ferguson's should be the jewel in the Clyde and central to mass re-industrialisation of the area.

"If the management don't share that ambition they should be replaced.

"And if the Scottish Government don't share the ambition then they should give the yard back to someone who does, such as [former owner] Jim McColl."

The Scottish Government has announced through its Transport Scotland agency that work to procure two new large ferries for island communities is now under way.

They are to be built to the 'same specification as the existing ferries under construction [in Turkey] for Islay', Transport Scotland said.

The lucrative contract is set to be awarded before the end of the year.

But Ferguson's yesterday moved to dampen hopes of a bid being prepared to win the work.

The Telegraph asked for a comment from the yard's current chief executive David Tydeman but its public relations advisers issued a statement attributable to a 'spokesperson' only.

It read: "We will review the requirements when the procurement process goes live and consider whether to bid.

"Our preferred option is to secure an order for the small vessels that [Port Glasgow-based Scottish Government procurement quango] CMAL is planning.

"The shipyard has successfully built three small hybrid vessels for CMAL — MV Lochinvar, MV Hallaig and MV Catriona [which was built when the yard was owned by Mr McColl] — and we believe we are well-positioned to build the new fleet of [seven] small vessels."

Alba's Mr McEleny said: "It is truly shocking that our publicly owned shipyard management want to limit the ambition for shipbuilding on the lower Clyde to small vessels.

"This is mediocre at best and an intentional management of decline at worst.

"It is simple arithmetic — the steel tonnage for a small vessel supports 50 to 75 jobs.

"This simply isn't good enough and should not be accepted."

Mr McEleny added: "As these new ferries will be built to the same specification as the existing ferries under construction in Turkey, we fear that Ferguson's shipyard in Port Glasgow will again miss out.

"The Scottish Government owns ferries, they operate ferries and run a shipyard that builds ferries.

"It's therefore an absurdity that Ministers would then consider giving lucrative contracts to build our ferries to yards overseas."

Minister for transport Jenny Gilruth said: "The Scottish Government is absolutely committed to improving the lifeline ferry fleet and better meeting the needs of island communities, so I'm pleased to announce additional funding to allow CMAL to launch a procurement for two additional vessels for the CalMac fleet."

CMAL chief executive Kevin Hobbs said: "This is a highly welcome commitment from the Scottish Government, which allows us to increase the pace of vessel replacement plans in line with our ambitions."