IT has been a long time coming, but Arran's new ferry finally berthed in Brodick today.

The Glen Sannox sailed from Greenock to the island on Tuesday, giving local residents their first glimpse of the long delayed vessel as she successfully made it to Brodick Pier.

The vessel, built up the coast at Ferguson Marine, has been out on sea trials this week as the anticipated date for its handover to Scottish Government ferry procurement body CMAL draws ever closer.

The event drew in not only ferry fans, but also the wider community of the island, with dozens flocking around the CalMac ferry terminal to welcome the vessel.

This is the latest milestone for the controversial ferry and follows Ferguson Marine successfully bunkering Glen Sannox’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel on board twice in the last fortnight.

The bunkering of the LNG was the first operation of its kind carried out in the UK.

(Image: Paul Paterson) The news of Glen Sannox's visit to Arran comes after a hitch with the vessel's LNG fuel system forced the yard to push the previous September 30 handover date back by two weeks.

Bosses at Ferguson Marine say they will hold a week-long exercise to discuss ‘lessons learned’ from the construction of the six-year-late Glen Sannox after its delivery, which is currently scheduled for mid-October.

The vessel's sister ship Glen Rosa is also set to sail on the Arran route when it commences operations.

But both ferries will be sailing to the island from Troon Harbour, due to delays to the upgrade of the Ardrossan port. The design of the new vessels meant they could not go into service from the North Ayrshire harbour until improvement works were completed.

The cost of the two ferries was originally supposed to have been £97 million. As of June this year, the cost has risen to £380m plus a £45m shipyard loan written off.

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The mainland harbour troubles continued when owners Peel Ports closed the Irish berth there due to deterioration.

The Scottish Government agreed the multi-million pound improvement of Ardrossan Harbour  six years ago, yet work has still to begin. A re-costing of the project is still being negotiated between the parties involved.

The work, if agreed, is expected to take two years to complete and the two ferries will sail from Troon until the work is finished.

In the meantime as concerns grow over the redevelopment delay and the fear of losing the ferry service to Troon altogether, a Save Our Harbour public meeting will be held on Wednesday at 7pm in Ardrossan's Civic Centre.