There was much in the way of runes to read after Port Glasgow shipyard Ferguson Marine lost out in the contest to build seven small, fully electric ferries for CalMac.

What appeared plain was that the decision by the Scottish Government’s Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) to award the contract to Poland’s Remontowa Shipbuilding was a bitter blow to Ferguson Marine, which had made it through to the final round of bidding.

However, there was much else to consider, when trying to contemplate what the future holds for a yard that currently employs 305 people.

In this regard, there was plenty to chew over in the statements from CMAL and Ferguson Marine on Monday.

CMAL, which last July said estimated costs for phase one of the small vessels replacement programme were around £175 million for the seven new ferries as well as port improvements and shore power upgrades, on Monday set out in detail the mechanism it used for assessing the bids.

It said “bids were robustly assessed against technical and financial criteria, with a 65%/35% weighting, respectively”.

CMAL also highlighted the fact that a contract for three more fully electric ferries will be awarded in phase two of the small vessels replacement programme, which will be procured through a separate competitive tender process later this year.

Ferguson Marine chief financial officer David Dishon appeared at pains to highlight the positives, such as they were.

It is worth contemplating all of this in the context of Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes’ announcement last July of a major investment in Ferguson Marine.

This statement seemed at the time to be framed in such a way as to cover the eventuality that Ferguson Marine did not win the phase one contract for the seven small ferries, focusing on bolstering the yard’s ability to bid competitively for work over the longer term.

Ms Forbes noted the planned £14.2m investment, over two years, would be focused on modernisation and improving productivity. And the Scottish Government highlighted its aim at that point of “building a sustainable future” for the yard.

Last July’s investment announcement appeared to almost set the scene for the yard - which has been owned by the Scottish Government since it was........

© Herald Scotland