FERGUSON boss Tim Hair has admitted he is still nearly a hundred workers short of being able to finish the two CalMac ferries nearly TWO YEARS after he took the helm.

The beleaguered Port Glasgow shipyard, at the centre of a political storm over the fiasco, is still struggling to recruit the required number of personnel to complete the ships.

They are now a staggering five years behind schedule.

In an email obtained by the Telegraph, Mr Hair — who was paid £791,000 last year — states: "Ferguson is currently around 90 skilled trades below the level required to complete the vessels."

The man appointed by the Scottish Government in August 2019 as 'turnaround' director to ensure completion of the ferries post-nationalisation and set the yard on an even keel wrote the message on June 9.

It came nearly four months after he launched a high-profile push to recruit 120 skilled trades people to focus solely on the yard's 'priority' of finishing MV Glen Sannox and Hull 802.

Inverclyde politicians today hit out at the continuing state of paralysis amid doubt being cast as to whether the ships will ever be completed.

Alba councillor Chris McEleny has claimed that the ferries are now being deliberately used to prevent Ferguson's from being awarded future CalMac contracts.

Mr McEleny said: "I fear that these ships will not be completed under Mr Hair's leadership.

"It is clear that politics are at play and that they are being kept to block Ferguson's being awarded lucrative contracts for new ferries, which will go elsewhere.

"The future of our shipyard should be above politics."

Councillor McEleny added: "It is high time that Inverclyde's elected representatives wake up, smell the coffee and stand up and be counted.

"We cannot, and must not, allow the situation to carry on like it has, otherwise the yard will close and it will be replaced by luxury flats before Inverclyde's parliamentarians have seen what has gone wrong.

"Mr Hair has not been able to carry out what he was hired to do.

"The Scottish Government must now take direct measures, pay whatever is required to recruit the staff and also directly award every single future Caledonian MacBrayne ferry to Ferguson's.

"I am issuing a challenge to every single elected representative with Inverclyde at heart — will they stand with me and demand these future ferries are awarded to our shipyard?

"Or will they sit back and do nothing?"

Greenock-born west of Scotland Conservative MSP Jamie Greene today described the ongoing workforce shortage as 'worrying'.

Mr Greene said: "Mr Hair, who is paid £790,000 per annum from the public purse, was charged with the turnaround of the yard, yet worryingly we see major shortages of staff and still no sight of these much-needed new ferries.

"The SNP forced the nationalisation of the yard with an apparent view to ensuring that islands like Arran finally get the ferry they need.

"One has to question however if their ferry replacement strategy has truly been turned around, or indeed is working at all."

Mr Greene added: "The yard needs a proper future which allows it to grow, expand and recruit, but that requires a top down master plan for Scotland’s marine sector, something notably absent at present."

A plan to recruit UK-based workers fell flat and Ferguson's last month awarded a £4.4m contract to Wales-based GME (Global Maritime Engineering) Services, which hires people from Europe.

In the June 9 email obtained by the Telegraph, Mr Hair states: "We believe our selection processes, which focus on skills, are fair and equitable, and require the same standards from those acting on our behalf."

He told MSPs in April that it was impossible to say with certainty when MV Glen Sannox and the unnamed 'Hull 802' will be ready for service.

We told last Thursday how a controversial secret report into the management of Ferguson's — written following a three-month assessment of yard — focuses solely on how the operation has been run since the Scottish Government takeover.

Ministers and Ferguson's have been accused of a 'cover-up' after refusing to release details of the 'benchmarking exercise' by global shipbuilding consultancy First Marine International.

The government and the yard have have cited 'commercial interests' as the reason for keeping the report under wraps.

Ferguson's have insisted that 'significant progress' has been made since nationalisation and the appointment of Mr Hair.

They say they are 'doing everything possible' to deliver the ferries, but have admitted 'there is still a lot of work to do'.

A yard spokesperson said: "The report reflects the state of the yard after decades of under-investment and only months under ownership by the Scottish Government."