STRAIT LINK’s nightly Melbourne-Burnie service will return to full capacity when ro-ro Victorian Reliance II rejoins sister Tasmanian Achiever II in operation early next week.
Victorian Reliance II reached Melbourne yesterday morning after sailing back from Singapore where it underwent its five-year special survey and drydocking and received its new Strait Link livery, obliterating all traces of its former Toll Shipping colour scheme.
The ship is spending the weekend at Station Pier demobilising from the Singapore sojourn and remobilising for Bass Strait, where it will replace the chartered Peregrine which will be freed to return to owners CLdN in Europe.
The smaller Peregrine has inadvertently contributed to a space shortage on the Strait, with customer ANL warning earlier this week it is dealing with a backlog of Tasmanian imports that may not be completely cleared until late this month.
Coincidentally, another CLdN ship is in the news today, with KiwiRail revealing for the first time details of its ownership of the ‘temporary’ Cook Strait ro-ro Valentine.
The vessel was bought by KiwiRail in September 2022 for around NZ$9.5 million, according to today’s disclosure, as a back-up for troubled Interlisland line ro-paxes, especially Kaiarahi which had suffered gearbox failure.
Valentine saw little service and was widely regarded as a white elephant in NZ maritime circles. However, it seems KiwiRail had the last laugh as the ship was on-sold to Greek owners in September last year for just over $24 million. It has since been converted into a car carrier, named Sea Caryatis, and is operating in the Mediterranean.
