A huge oil tanker moored in a Scottish loch for six years has finally sailed away.

Australis had been berthed at the small Finnart oil terminal on Loch Long, Argyll and Bute, and used for fuel storage since March 2019.

The facility is earmarked for closure as a consequence of the shutting down of the Grangemouth refinery which is linked to Finnart via pipeline.

A previous plan to convert the Loch Long refinery for diesel import has been abandoned, and about 20 jobs will be lost at the site.

Photographers took advantage of the sunny weather to capture the 330-metre (1,083ft) vessel making its way down the Firth of Clyde.

The giant ship has been sold and is currently bound for Falmouth in Cornwall. It is understood it will then move on to the Middle East.

The Finnart terminal, which takes its name from a nearby country mansion, was built by the US Navy during World War Two, providing a deep water site to bring fuel ashore, out of range of the Luftwaffe.

Oil was transported to Scotland's oil refinery at Grangemouth via a pipeline.

After the war the Finnart terminal passed to the British Petroleum Oil Company and a more direct pipeline was constructed in the 1950s.

Another pipeline was later built to take finished products in the other direction, to Finnart for export to Northern Ireland.

The import of crude oil reached a peak in the 1970s, before North Sea oil began coming onshore in quantity.

The Finnart site is currently owned by Petroineos, joint venture between Ineos and PetroChina.

Meanwhile the Scottish government says a long-awaited report assessing the future of the Grangemouth refinery site is expected to be published next week.

Project Willow - which is being produced jointly with the UK government - was due to be published by the end of last month.

Aladair Allan, a junior energy minister in the Scottish government, said they were working to finalise the details.

The report will look at potential future uses for the site which could keep jobs in the area.

The refinery is set to close in the coming months which will put 400 roles at risk.

Allan also urged owners Petroineos to to "explore all possible opportunities" for moving staff to other parts of the firm rather than making them redundant.

The new Glen Sannox ferry has been removed from service because of a crack in the ship's hull, according to the ferry operator CalMac.

The brand new vessel only began operating in January after being delivered almost seven years late and costing more than four times the original contract price.

The ship had been operating since January between Troon in South Ayrshire and Brodick in the Isle of Arran.

The 13:00 and 17:20 departures from Brodick were cancelled, external as was the 15:10 from Troon due to the fault.

The boat is now tied up at Brodick.

CalMac said reports that the ferry had hit the harbour or that water was leaking into the car deck were "categorically untrue".

A statement from the ferry operator said: "MV Glen Sannox has been removed from service due to a crack on a weld seam on the vessel's hull which is close to the waterline.

"This requires the support of a dive team to assess, and the earliest this could be arranged for is Saturday morning. A third-party team will attend tomorrow to carry out a full assessment.

"Following this, we will be able to provide more information on the issue and, if required, repairs and service impact.

"It does mean all MV Glen Sannox sailings on Saturday 15 March have been cancelled."

They added: "We apologise for the disruption, and our port teams and customer engagement centre will be working hard to contact affected customers."

The Glen Sannox has space for 127 cars and 852 passengers.

CalMac has said another ferry, the MV Alfred, will make an extra journey to take some of the passengers who were booked onto the cancelled sailings.

Some of the MV Alfred's sailing times have been amended to accommodate the extra crossing.

The operator said all passengers should have a booking prior to arriving in Troon, adding that those who had not booked could not be guaranteed travel.

Sailings on Saturday have also been cancelled.

A decision about Sunday's sailings will be taken on Saturday, the operator said in a statement on its website., external

A shuttle service will operate between Lochranza in Arran and Claonaig in the Kintyre peninsula.

The order for Glen Sannox and another ship were placed with the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow nearly a decade ago.

But disputes over the design and claims for extra costs saw the shipyard fall into administration, and then be nationalised in 2019.

The ships have ended up costing more than four times the £97m contract price.

Divers are inspecting the new Glen Sannox following the discovery of a crack in the ship's hull.

The brand new vessel only began operating in January after being delivered almost seven years late and costing more than four times the original contract price.

All of the Glen Sannox's Saturday sailings have been cancelled while the MV Alfred will operate an additional service.

CalMac said it would provide an update on Sunday's sailings once a dive team had carried out a full assessment.

The ship had been operating for just over two months between Troon in South Ayrshire and Brodick in the Isle of Arran.

The vessel was removed from service on Friday after a crack was found on a "weld seam close to the waterline".

The ferry operator said reports that the boat had hit the harbour or that water was leaking into the car deck were "categorically untrue".

However, CalMac advised that a "very small amount of water" had entered part of the rear of the ship near the steering gear.

Additional sailings have also been added between Lochranza in Arran and Claonaig in the Kintyre peninsula.

The operator said all passengers should have a booking prior to arriving in Troon, adding that those who had not booked could not be guaranteed travel.

Divers from Shearwater Marine Services arrived at the port on Saturday morning.

A decision about Sunday's sailings will be taken later, the operator said in a statement on its website, external.

It added: "We apologise for the disruption, and our port teams and customer engagement centre will be working hard to contact affected customers."

The Glen Sannox has space for 127 cars and 852 passengers.

The order for Glen Sannox and another ship were placed with the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow nearly a decade ago.

But disputes over the design and claims for extra costs saw the shipyard fall into administration, and then be nationalised in 2019.

The ships have ended up costing more than four times the £97m contract price.

A Scottish government agency owns the ferries, leading to criticism of the SNP from opposition parties.

Scottish Conservative transport spokeswoman Sue Webber called the issue a "hammer blow" for passengers.

And Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: "This has been a never-ending nightmare for this SNP commissioned ferry contract."

Sailings on the new Glen Sannox ferry have resumed two days after crack was found in the ship's hull.

It returned to service with the 14:50 sailing from Brodick, on the Isle of Arran, after repairs and testing were successfully completed.

CalMac said the welding work was carried out on Saturday, following an assessment by divers, and it underwent a fresh examination earlier.

The brand new vessel only began operating in January after being delivered almost seven years late and costing more than four times the original contract price.

A CalMac spokesperson added: "We are grateful to the vessel's crew, our local port staff, plus the dive and repair teams for their speedy response to this issue."

Sailings on the vessel had been cancelled since Friday when the fault was found.

The ferry operates on a route between Troon, South Ayrshire, and Brodick.

The MV Alfred has operated extra sailings to provide cover and the operator said the "vast majority" of booked customers had been able to travel.

CalMac previously said reports that the boat had hit the harbour or that water was leaking into the car deck were "categorically untrue".

However, it confirmed that a "very small amount of water" had entered part of the rear of the ship near the steering gear.

The order for Glen Sannox and another ship were placed with the Ferguson shipyard in Port Glasgow nearly a decade ago.

But disputes over the design and claims for extra costs saw the shipyard fall into administration, and then be nationalised in 2019.

The ships have ended up costing more than four times the £97m contract price.

The nationalised Ferguson shipyard has missed out on a crucial order for seven small all-electric ferries for west coast operator Caledonian MacBrayne.

Ferries procurement agency CMAL has instead named a Polish firm, Remontowa, as preferred bidder for the Small Vessels Replacement Programme (SVRP).

Ferguson's, the last commercial shipyard on the Clyde, had vowed to bid "aggressively" for the contract and had made it onto a shortlist of six bidders.

The new "loch-class" vessels are due to start joining the CalMac fleet from 2027 onwards.

The contract was a key part of Ferguson Marine's five-year business plan following delays and cost overruns in the construction of two much larger ferries for CalMac.

The 50m (164ft) all-electric ferries are similar to ones it has delivered successfully in the past and could have given it a pipeline of repeatable work lasting several years.

But the Port Glasgow shipyard is also pursuing other business opportunities, including defence sub-contracting work from BAE Systems and private sector work.

Remontowa, based in Gdansk, has previously built the CalMac ferries MV Argyle, MV Bute and MV Finlaggan, and was runner up to Ferguson's when the contracts for MV Glen Sannox and MV Glen Rosa were awarded in 2015.

The Scottish government has allocated £175m for the electric ferries and upgrades of charging infrastructure at harbours.

CMAL chief executive Kevin Hobbs said the bids had been assessed against a range of technical criteria, weighted 65% on quality and 35% on cost.

He said: "It is our responsibility to follow the Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland and appoint a yard capable of producing quality vessels which meet the needs of islanders, but that also deliver the best value for the public purse.

"We are confident in Remontowa's ability, and have worked with them before, most recently with the delivery of the MV Finlaggan in 2011."

The new ferries will operate on the Colintraive-Rhubodach (Bute); Lochaline-Fishnish (Mull); Tarbert (Loch Fyne)-Portavadie; Iona-Fionnphort (Mull); Sconser-Raasay; Tobermory-Kilchoan (Mull); and Tayinloan-Gigha routes.

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