Ferry terminal's £72m budget 'exhausted'

The final cost of an Isle of Man government-funded ferry port in Liverpool still cannot be revealed but the £72,976,000 earmarked for it has been "exhausted", the infrastructure minister has said.

Tim Crookall said the cost of the terminal at the Prince's Half-Tide Dock to the public purse was still subject to a legal dispute with contractors.

Lawrie Hooper – a former member of the department - challenged the minister to confirm the final figure was "north of a £100m" and the negotiations were about the "recovery" of funds already paid.

Crookall confirmed the negotiations were about getting money back from the contractors, and he had received legal advice not to reveal the total project cost.

The ferry port at the Prince's Half-Tide Dock in Liverpool opened to passengers in June 2024, years later than originally planned after a raft of delays.

Those hold-ups, which included difficulties caused by the Covid pandemic, saw the cost of the project almost double from £38m to £70.6m, but a bid to allocate an additional £10m in contingency funding was withdrawn in November 2023.

Crookall told the House of Keys: "The department has concluded the construction contract with the main contractor and the final account has now been closed.

"I can confirm that the department is working closely with its legal advisors to resolve the ongoing disputes so I am unable to release the final figure for the construction of the Isle of Man Ferry Terminal Liverpool at this time."

Hooper argued that the structure of the contract meant "all the money has already been paid out".

"The reality is now we are working back from a theoretical maximum cost backwards towards what the actual final settlement will be," he said, "and the minister is perfectly at liberty to disclose what that final paid out amount is."

"That actually isn't going to change, being as it is money that has already been physically handed over to the contractor."

But Crookall maintained that, having taken legal advice, he could not reveal the figure until the dispute had been concluded.

"I can, however, confirm that £70.676m in the pink book [Isle of Man Budget] plus £2.12m from the capital inflation budget line has been exhausted," he said.

Following on from the legal process, he said a supplementary vote would be sought in Tynwald to cover the funding needed above that already allocated.

Crookall told politicians the negotiations would likely be ongoing for "at least for another year if not 18 months, maybe longer".

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