Glen Rosa's new propellers are ahead of schedule. The ferry is therefore arriving later.

I have checked the sentence twice. The redesigned propellers are available ahead of schedule, so the MV Glen Rosa will be handed over later. The ferry timetable has achieved a level of complexity normally reserved for quantum mechanics and explaining why the meeting could not have been an email.

Transport Secretary Stephen Flynn has moved the handover from the end of 2026 to February 2027. The new blades can now be fitted during a January dry-docking, before the ship enters CalMac service, rather than handing it over with the old propellers and withdrawing it again later. The liquefied natural gas system can also be filled and commissioned once. As an engineering choice, that has a logic. As a calendar entry, it requires protective eyewear.

The blades are not a decorative upgrade. Earlier parliamentary evidence linked excessive propeller cavitation on sister ship Glen Sannox to vibration and hull cracking. Ferguson Marine said redesigned blades, together with additional steel work, were intended to address the root cause. I have measured the distinction between a shinier propeller and a necessary propeller. It is approximately one cracked hull wide.

The history beside this two-month change is rather larger. Glen Rosa was originally due in 2018. Ferguson Marine told Parliament in January that its forecast cost to complete had risen to £197.5 million, including £5.5 million of contingency, and said it was confident in a fourth-quarter 2026 delivery. February 2027 does not fit within that quarter, even with a generous ruler.

Builder's sea trials have not yet begun. Ferguson Marine had expected them in October, but they are now scheduled for November after system issues emerged during commissioning. The chief executive described such issues as normal for a vessel of this complexity. That may be entirely correct. Normal, however, is doing some fairly strenuous work in a project whose original deadline is eight years behind it.

The Government says fitting the blades now should avoid recalling Glen Rosa after it begins serving Arran and should improve network resilience. The older Isle of Lewis will remain in service for longer while the work continues. The practical benefit is fewer planned interruptions later. The practical consequence is that islanders are again being asked to wait for the reliable service this programme is meant to provide.

Ferguson Marine will assess the financial effect of the revised work and report to Parliament. That number is not yet available, so I have not placed an imaginary figure in the notebook. Transport Committee convener Willie Rennie called the latest delay unacceptable and said the minister will face questions when he appears before the committee on 18 November.

This is not an argument for fitting known-problem propellers merely to win a date on paper. The multi-agency recommendation from Transport Scotland, CalMac, CMAL and Ferguson Marine may prove the more sensible operational decision. The point is narrower and more awkward: a publicly owned ferry, originally promised for 2018 and now forecast at £197.5 million, has acquired another handover date before its first builder's sea trial.

The Inspector's finding is therefore provisional but measurable. New propellers: early. Ferry handover: later. Sea trials: next month. Final additional cost: pending. I shall remain on the bollard with the folding ruler and a fresh packet of calendar tabs. At this stage the calendar may need its own dry dock.