Ferguson Marine bosses slammed over bonus payments as shipyard faces uncertain future

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Bosses at the struggling Ferguson Marine shipyard have been slammed after awarding themselves cash bonuses without Scottish Government approval.The business in Port Glasgow was nationalised by SNP ministers in 2019 as it struggled to complete an order for two new car ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne.The CalMac vessels remain unfinished and it remains unclear when they will enter service or how much the final bill will be.Audit Scotland today issued a damning update on the state of Ferguson Marine and warned it may not have a viable future.The body, which scrutinises public spending, said £87,000 of performance bonus payments were paid to senior Ferguson Marine managers during 2021/22.Stephen Boyle, the Auditor General, said it was "not clear" how their performance were assessed and that appropriate frameworks and governance were not in place."It is unacceptable that performance bonuses were awarded to senior managers at the shipyard, without proper governance for such payments," he said."The Scottish Government needs to make sure its rules over pay are followed by this public body."Boyle added it was also unclear whether Ferguson Marine had a viable future as a business."It is deeply concerning that the costs to complete these ferries have continued to escalate, whilst the island communities these boats are meant to serve remain significantly impacted," he continued."Despite substantial sums of public money being invested, there is still no certainty over how much the ferries will cost, when they will be ready or whether the shipyard has a viable future."Fergusons is the last remaining builder of commercial ships on the Clyde.