Few examples show the risks of outdated cabling as starkly as the 2022 Ferguson Marine crisis. The Scottish shipyard’s experience illustrates how traditional wiring can cause cascading costs, delays, and technical failures across entire shipbuilding projects.
In February 2022, Ferguson Marine, the Port Glasgow shipyard, announced delays to its two ferries, MV Glen Sannox (Hull 801) and the unnamed Hull 802. The delay was due to serious wiring issues. Between 400 and 900 cables needed to be stripped out and replaced on each vessel, with some cables more than 100 metres long. Around 15% of all cabling on Hull 801, installed before the yard went into administration in 2019, was not fitted correctly, leaving connections too short. This halted commissioning and further installation, pushing back both ferries’ schedules.
The faulty cables were concentrated in machinery spaces, affecting critical equipment and preventing progress. Corrections to Hull 801 were required before progress could continue on Hull 802. The need to strip and re-install hundreds of cables led to major project delays and uncertain cost increases, illustrating how traditional cabling can be a bottleneck and risk factor in modern shipbuilding.
Retrofitting older vessels is especially challenging. Existing infrastructure often has to be dismantled, and outdated design documentation means additional surveys are needed before cable networks can be identified or expanded. Torleif Frimannslund, VP of Technology and Decarbonisation at Grieg Star, explained, “On older ships, it can be even more difficult. These often lack existing relevant infrastructure which means adding new items are costly. You often have to open up bulkheads and classification rules mean you can’t just take the most direct route. Every run has to be carefully planned, and that adds time and cost. From a scalability point of view, wired systems are a headache. Adding new features or endpoints can often be limited by the cost of running new cable routes.”
Documentation gaps add further risk. As one stakeholder noted, “Electrical contractors in dry-dock often fail to record their alterations. Later, ship electricians waste time tracing changes, or worse, discover undocumented modifications only when problems arise.” Cable routing is rarely straightforward, often passing through hazardous compartments such as fuel tanks or chemical storage. Tight spaces, design constraints, and class rules add complexity and cost to even simple installations.
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