THE DIFFICULTY of safely manoeuvring ships into and out of SeaRoad Shipping’s East Devonport No.2 berth once TT Line’s larger Spirit of Tasmania IV and V are temporarily using Berth No.1 has the freight ro-ro operator worried.
SeaRoad executive chairman Chas Kelly late last week told ABC Radio in Tasmania “when ships are getting very close together — everything’s good, until it’s not. That could, in our view, put us both out of business for a substantial amount of time,” he said.
SeaRoad’s Searoad Mersey II and Liekut already have to tuck in behind the bows of the existing Spirits tp reach the company’s terminal ramp, which means the ropaxes effectively overhang the freight ro-ros. While it was always intended the new ships will use the upgraded No.3 berth, delays in terminal construction mean that facility will not be available until early 2026, a year after the ships enter Bass Strait service.
Thus for at least a year they will have to utilise Berth No. 1, which TasPorts is now modifiying to accommodate the substantially longer and wider newcomers.
Mr Kelly told the ABC there will be “huge” risk of collision: “The current Spirits overlap the stern of our ships, and the longer ships will overlap them substantially more, which means that when we arrive we’ve got to go past them and then reverse back into our berth, which is a big risk,” Mr Kelly said. “If we were able to get alongside, then the tugs can’t get to our ships, because the ships have designated tug push points.”
The Spirits should run a modified schedule given the situation was of ferry operator TT-Line’s making, he suggested.
“We didn’t make any of these decisions, we haven’t been involved in it, and we don’t think we should be impacted by whatever decisions other people make,” he said.
TasPorts harbour master Captain Mick Wall told the ABC risk mitigation measures had been introduced and would be assessed going forward: “Further simulations for SeaRoad have been scheduled by them for late September and this is part of the continuous risk management approach being undertaken,” he said.
TasPorts CEO Anthony Donald said both the Major Projects team and the Harbour Master would continue to engage with SeaRoad throughout the berth 1 project: “We respect SeaRoad as a key customer and we are working with them on all opportunities to minimise disruption and optimise commercial shipping,” he said.
SeaRoad also has a new, larger ship, Searoad I, due from German builder FSG, due early next year to replace the chartered Liekut.
