MISSION to Seafarers centres in ports of Bunbury and Esperance are taking ownership of new minibuses funded by Southern Ports.

A new $72,000 thirteen-seater bus at the Port of Esperance will replace the previous MtS bus that has been serving visiting crews for around two decades.

And a new $63,000 twelve-seater bus at Bunbury has been helping crews access Bunbury since entering service recently.

Southern Ports CEO Keith Wilks said the Port of Esperance welcomed more than 4400 seafarers from 200 ship visits last year. He said Port of Bunbury received more than 10,000 seafarers from 465 ship visits over the same period.

“The Mission to Seafarers is a vital service that we’re proud to support,” Mr Wilks said.

“It provides seafarers with the opportunity to go beyond the port and access everything that Bunbury has to offer, as well as providing medical and airport transport.”

He said the Mission to Seafarers also helps crews access Esperance, which in turn helps the region prosper.  

Mission to Seafarers Esperance manager Fred Lochowicz said the centre’s previous bus transported 64,000 seafarers over the years it was operating.  

“Our 20-year-old bus had seen better days, so luckily for us Southern Ports was able to support us with the purchase of a new one,” Mr Lochowicz said.

“We rely on this one bus – without it we wouldn’t be able to provide the kind of shore leave that we do for the seafarers that we pick up and drop off 364 days per year.”

And Mission to Seafarers chair and chaplain Very Rev Darryl Cotton said the centre was extremely grateful for the new minibus.

“Without this transport, we wouldn’t be able to provide seafarers with the kind of shore leave that we do, providing easy access to the city of Bunbury,” he said.

In addition to the new 12-seater bus, Mission to Seafarers Bunbury is looking to upgrade its larger 22-seater bus, which is now 14 years old.

“Our ageing larger bus has to undergo more and more costly maintenance, so we’re now fundraising to upgrade it,” Very Rev Cotton said.

He said Mission to Seafarers also needs more volunteers to help drive the new buses and take the crew ashore. He said the mission has been experiencing volunteer shortages since the pandemic.  

“Pre-Covid we had 27 volunteers in Bunbury, now we are at half of those numbers,” he said.

“It’s heart-breaking when we’re unable to take all the crews ashore due to a lack of volunteers.”