Valdivia sounds a charming place, an old colonial city in the Los Rios region of southern Chile. It just seems an unlikely one in which to build the Colintraive-Rhubodach ferry which will take five minutes to connect Bute with mainland Argyll. We used to do that kind of thing in Scotland.

For anyone who thinks a line was drawn under the great SNP ferry scandal with the Glen Sannox finally making it into service, that Valdivia option is just one reminder of why this saga has a long way to run, with implications and costs that coastal communities will still be paying for, long after John Swinney has retreated to his armchair.

Where does Valdivia come into it? The answer lies in a Scottish Government contract to build six small ferries for Caledonian MacBrayne’s short routes. Largs to Cumbrae and the like. As with everything else, the job is years late and existing vessels are at risk of falling apart. The cost, including shore works, is a relatively modest £185 million.

It is exactly the kind of job the Ferguson shipyard at Port Glasgow is more than capable of delivering. In times past, a discreet way of ensuring such an outcome would have been found by sympathetic ministers. If the Scottish Government announced tomorrow a direct award to the Port Glasgow yard, with no further messing about, I would be the first to cheer.

Sadly, that sensible option is now deemed impossible. Such is the stigma inflicted upon the Ferguson yard by the disastrous, political imposition of a contract beyond its capabilities, that when one........

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