TO run a successful ferry service, four key elements are required - a big ship, a port at both ends and a crew to steer the boat and serve the passengers.

It is the same the world over and seems to work well with mercifully few major mishaps.

But not, it appears, in Scotland despite the entire network being fully publicly owned.

You would think that because it is under one government body, namely Transport Scotland, that everything would run like clockwork.

Alas, this is quite clearly not the case as the network lurches from crisis to fiasco and ultimately sailed onwards into a full-blown farce.

What else could possibly go wrong with the beleaguered network I wonder?

Well, step forward Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop who announced this week that ministers are in talks to nationalise a vital mainland ferry port after urgent re-development plans stalled.

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Ms Hyslop suddenly announced that discussions to buy privately-owned Ardrossan Harbour are “progressing at pace”.

Probably at the same pace as the dualling of the A9 or the ferries built at Ferguson Marine, but we'll let that one lie for now.

History tells us that nothing that Transport Scotland does is 'at pace' - quite the opposite in fact.

Regardless, with the harbour currently owned by Peel Ports, Ms Hyslop revealed officials from Transport Scotland and CMAL – the........

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