FERGUSON'S of Port Glasgow has been honoured at a prizegiving in Berlin where the likes of Prince Charles and Sir David Attenborough have been among winners in the past.

The shipyard won the 'innovation of the year' accolade at the Greentech Festival's 2019 Green Awards in the German capital.

Company boss Gerry Marshall and chief naval architect Chris Dunn were presented with the prize in recognition of the company's work on the groundbreaking HySeas III project, which aims to deliver the first ever sea-going vehicle and passenger ferry fuelled entirely by hydrogen.

Mr Marshall, Ferguson's chief executive, said: "We are thrilled and immensely proud to have won this award amongst such respected nominees, who are all striving to create a more sustainable, greener world.

"The award is testament to the incredibly talented workforce at Ferguson Marine Engineering as we continue to innovate and challenge the status quo of the marine transport industry."

The Greentech Festival was created following the merger of the Greentech Awards and the British Green Awards.

This year, the judges were looking for the 'most impressive innovations in green tech' and were impressed with the Newark shipyard's leading work with hydrogen propulsion, which they said gave their nomination a significant edge over other highly respected international competition.

Mr Dunn said: "This award recognises the exceptionally hard work of the HySeas III team in proving there is a viable alternative to damaging marine fossil fuels.

"Alongside our partners, we will continue to relentlessly chase our ambition to deliver a seagoing ferry powered by energy harvested from the wind and tide."

Ferguson's owner Jim McColl, who rescued the Port business from administration in 2014 and has invested over £25 million transforming the site, also heaped praise on the workforce.

Mr McColl, chief executive of the yard's parent company Clyde Blowers Capital, said: "This is such an outstanding achievement considering that just over four years ago the company was brought out of administration. "Over the past four years Gerry Marshall and his management team have built one of the strongest marine technology workforces in the world.

"They now have a truly awesome team of marine engineers, naval architects, structural engineers and electrical engineers, who are second to none in the UK or Europe, and have been in great demand by third parties with requests for their skills both in the UK and abroad."