The Spirit of Tasmania IV during its first sea trial in Finnish waters. Photo: Spirit of Tasmania
Tasmania’s new Bass Strait ferries have both been plagued by problems with their Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) system.
Spirit of Tasmania IV was due to set sail for the island state from its Scottish port of Leith on Monday, according to Tasmania Transport Minister Eric Abetz.
Its departure was reportedly delayed first by the weather, then by the discovery of a “technical issue” with the LNG system that was first detected in Spirit V during sea trials, the minister says.
The issue was also raised by Tasmanian Opposition Leader Dean Winter in state parliament on Wednesday and Thursday.
In a separate statement, he says the new Spirit ferries are costing Tasmanians severely as a new berth is built to accommodate the vessels.
“The cost of Berth 3 has blown out from $90 million to $493m. Not having the new Spirits operating is costing our economy $500m a year,” he says.
In a draft copy of the transcript of the daily Hansard for Thursday’s session of the House of Assembly, Abetz says the LNG incident is not related to one that happened in April at Leith, Scotland.
“On April 15, Spirit IV engaged all four side-thrusters as part of a test at Leith,” he told parliament.
An hour into the test, a vibration in one bow thruster saw it shut down.
“Divers were deployed and a gas bottle was found in the unit,” he says.
Abetz says investigation revealed the thruster had sucked the bottle off the seabed.
“The government has been advised by TT-Line that a technical issue was detected on board Spirit IV and V by Finnish-based shipbuilder RMC in relation to its Liquified Natural Gas system,” Abetz says.
“The issue was identified during the sea trials for Spirit V.”
RMC told TT-Line that the problems need further assessment and repairs; a crew from TT Line is at the shipyards, helping them, Abetz confirms.
“Spirit IV will not depart for Australia until the work is completed.”
The minister says they are awaiting word on a new departure date but cautions that the work “will take some time”.
Any repair costs will be covered under warranty the government has with RMC, Abetz says.
