2023-08-24 20:08:12
The “RSV Nuyina”, which supplies Australia’s three Antarctic stations with supplies and conducts important climate research, is docked at Macquarie Quay in Hobart. The petrol station at Selfs Point is a short distance upstream and the Tasman Bridge is in between. The Tasmanian ports authority, TasPorts, feared that the 160-metre-long vessel would be too large to fit under the bridge and refused passage.
TasPorts announced that passing under the Tasman Bridge would only be conceivable following tests and simulation drives had been completed. The refusal came despite TasPorts having granted the ship conditional clearance to pass under the Tasman Bridge in February 2022 following “extensive and careful risk assessments”. TasPorts boss Anthony Donald backtracked shortly therefollowing and explained that the authority was obliged to “guarantee the highest safety standards in maritime traffic”.
picturedesk.com/Visum/Sintesi The almost 1.4 kilometer long Tasman Bridge connects the districts of the Tasmanian capital Hobart
Memories of 1975
According to Tasmanian Harbor Master Michael Wall, the final decision was made just a few weeks ago. Wall justified the ban to the TV station ABC by saying that the ship had too large a drift angle to navigate safely through the narrow buttresses of the Tasman Bridge.
Wall said they didn’t want to risk a repeat of the bridge collapse in 1975. At that time, a freighter had rammed the bridge and partially caused it to collapse. Seven crew members and five people whose vehicles fell off the bridge were killed.
environment, time and money
The department responsible for Antarctic research in the Australian Department of the Environment (AAD) confirmed to the daily newspaper “Guardian” that the “RSV Nuyina” had not been granted a transit permit. To refuel, the icebreaker now has to travel 364 nautical miles (around 674 kilometers) back and forth to Burnie on the northwest coast of the island state instead of just over two nautical miles (around four kilometers). And that will remain so for the time being.
As it stands, the ban is a permanent decision, Wall said. Two to four refuelings are required per shipping season. However, the risk for the bridge would be too high, even if “we are aware of the fact that the AAD costs time and money,” says Wall. A statement from AAD said it was working with the Tasmanian government on long-term refueling options for the research vessel in Hobart.
Green Senator Peter Whish-Wilson said, “It’s incredibly frustrating.” The refueling of the RSV Nuyina, hundreds of kilometers from its home port, will not only have an impact on the environment, but likely also on funding for research projects in Antarctica, so Whish Wilson. Earlier this year, AAD took $25 million off its annual budget.
Romanian-built $528m icebreaker dubbed Australia’s ‘Disneyland for scientists’
Another blow
The passage ban is just the latest setback for the ship billed as “Disneyland for scientists.” Again and once more it had to struggle with problems and lengthy repairs, which led to research trips being cancelled. Only earlier this year did AAD chief scientist Nicole Webster confirm that an Antarctic expedition to study ice melt “would no longer be carried out due to the problems of the ‘RSV Nuyina'”.
The delivery of the icebreaker built in Romania had already been delayed by more than a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. And ahead of its arrival in Hobart in October 2021, the $528 million ship suffered an engine failure on the 47-day maiden voyage to Australia. At the end of December 2021, it embarked on its first Antarctic voyage. Most recently, the “RSV Nuyina” was repaired in a dry dock in Singapore for a long time and only returned to Hobart in April.
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