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Tasmania News

27 Mar 2024

Britain’s Forgotten Prison Island: Remembering the Thousands of Convicts Who Died Working in Bermuda’s Dockyards

An 1862 photo of a prison hulk docked in Ireland Island, Bermuda. (Photo: UK Royal Navy)

We think of Bermuda as a tiny paradise in the North Atlantic. But long before cruise ships moored up, prison ships carried hundreds of convicts to the island, first docking in 1824 and remaining there for decades.Islands have long been places to deport, exile and banish criminals. Think of Alcatraz, the infamous penitentiary in San Francisco, or Robben Island in South Africa, which held Nelson Mandela. The French penal colony Devil’s Island was immortalised in the Steve McQueen film Papillon…

21 Dec 2023

Zinus Charging Solution Ordered for Zero-emissions RoPax Ferry

(Photo: Ziuns)

Zinus announced it has won a contract to supply its autonomous charging solution for a new zero-emissions, lightweight Ro-Pax ferry.The endeavor is led by shipbuilder Incat Tasmania, and commissioned by their South American customer Buquebús. The ferry will operate between Argentina and Uruguay, providing efficient and eco-friendly transportation services to as many as 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles.Zinus will be supplying its autonomous charging solution, which includes the SWC200 Onboard Unit and ZPP800 charging tower solution.

30 Oct 2023

RMC Launches and Christens Spirit of Tasmania IV

(Photo: Rauma Marine Constructions)

Rauma Marine Constructions celebrated the launch and christening of Spirit of Tasmania IV, the first of two identical car and passenger ferries the Finnish shipyard is building for Tasmania's TT-Line.Built to replace similarly Finnish-built sister ships, the new vessels are specially designed to operate on a challenging route across the Bass Strait between Geelong, Victoria, and Devonport, Tasmania.The Spirit of Tasmania IV was christened at the RMC shipyard. The vessel’s godmother…

25 Oct 2023

Incat Using SSI Software for Buquebus Ferry Build

(Image: SSI)

SSI said it will supply its ShipConstructor design and modelling solution to Tasmania’s Incat shipyard to support structural modelling for two hull modules of Hull 096, a 130-meter battery-electric Ro-Pax catamaran under construction for Buquebus of Uruguay.Incat and its partner Revolution Design chose SSI’s ShipConstructor system, the SSI design and engineering solution, to deliver specific benefits for this complex project, including centralized data management, automation and standardization of design outputs…

12 Sep 2023

Mounting Evidence Shows Seismic Surveys Can Harm Marine Life

© Sean / Adobe Stock

Woodside Energy last week announced it would start seismic testing for its Scarborough gas project off Australia’s west coast, before reversing the decision in the face of a legal challenge from Traditional Owners.Seismic testing is highly controversial in marine environments. Australia’s federal regulator (the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority) is currently examining a proposal for seismic testing in the Otway Basin in Bass Strait, which conservationists say has attracted more than 30…

24 Aug 2023

Incat Tasmania to Deliver World’s Largest Battery Electric Ship

Source: Incat Tasmania

Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania is setting a record for the largest, lightweight battery electric ship in the world with a new 130-meter (427-foot) ro-pax ferry under construction for South American customer, Buquebús.The aluminum ferry will be the first fully electric vessel in South America when delivered in 2025, operating between Argentina and Uruguay. It will have a capacity for 2,100 passengers and crew and 225 cars and will feature a duty free shop of over 2,000 square meters (21…

21 Aug 2023

Speaker Program fo 47th Annual Interferry Announced

From left: Mike Corrigan, Interferry, Anders Rundberg – Carus, Finland, Peter Ståhlberg – Wasaline, Finland, John Bertell – Carus, Finland, Alex Peirce – Brock Solutions, Canada, Travis Raines – Brock Solutions, Canada. Image courtesy Interferry.

The 47th Annual Interferry Conference takes place in Hobart, Tasmania on November 4-8, 2023. With focus on elevating the customer experience and sustainability, expert presentations will feature the latest trends in tourism, service automation and onboard entertainment, as well as ship construction and conversion trends, optimised operations, and safety measures.How global tourism trends have changed and will develop post COVID-19 are part of the keynote of Robert Dougan from Tourism Australia, who kicks off the conference on Day 1.

14 Jul 2023

New Ferry Enters Service for SeaLink in Queensland

(Photo: Incat Crowther)

A new 24-meter passenger ferry designed by Incat Crowther and built by Norman R. Wright & Sons has begun servicing a busy passenger route for commuter and tourism ferry operator SeaLink South-East Queensland. The new Incat Crowther 24, named Talwurrapin, began operating on the Redland Bay to Russell Island route in the Moreton Bay region in late January 2023, providing a vital connection between the mainland and Russell Island.Incat Crowther said it worked with SeaLink South-East…

16 May 2023

Wreck of MV Blythe Star Found Off Tasmania

Images courtesy of CSIRO

An investigation by Australian research organisation CSIRO’s research vessel RV Investigator has confirmed the location of the wreck of the MV Blythe Star.The 44-metre motor vessel Blythe Star was a coastal freighter that disappeared off Tasmania nearly 50 years ago. The vessel was travelling from Hobart to King Island with a cargo of superphosphate fertiliser and a ton of beer in kegs when, on October 13, 1973, it suddenly capsized and sank off the southwest coast of Tasmania…

26 Apr 2023

Port of Melbourne Considers Green Methanol Bunkering

Source: Port of Melbourne

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between Australia’s Port of Melbourne and Maersk, ANL (a subsidiary of CMA-CGM), Svitzer, Stolthaven Terminals, HAMR Energy and ABEL Energy to explore the commercial feasibility of establishing a green methanol bunkering hub at the port.The collaboration will examine a potential project involving the transportation of green methanol from production sites in Bell Bay, Tasmania (ABEL Energy) and Portland, Victoria (HAMR Energy)…

23 Mar 2023

Lack of Bridge Resource Management Training Contributed to Collision

Source: ATSB

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released its investigation report into a bulk carrier’s collision with two tugs in Tasmania last year highlighting the importance of bridge resource management (BRM) and the design of bridge systems to reduce the risks of human error.On January 28, 2022, the Australian-flagged bulk carrier Goliath was turning in the swing basin to berth at the Port of Devonport, Tasmania, when it collided with two moored tugs, which subsequently sunk.

13 Feb 2023

Passenger Vessels: Rising to the Challenge

© sheilaf2002 / Adobe Stock

Interferry CEO Mike Corrigan explains the driving forces behind the global trade association’s imperative to keep its foot on the gas.Interferry and its members scaled some demanding peaks in 2022 but, to state the obvious, our work is never done. Facing an equally busy schedule of challenges and opportunities in the year ahead, we need to keep climbing – a truism that has been memorably expressed as ‘the top of one mountain is always the bottom of another’.Our 46th annual conference in Seattle last October was definitely one of the peaks…

03 Feb 2023

Tasmanian Luxury Wilderness Cruise Operator Launches Odalisque III Cruise Ship

©Incat Crowther

On Board, a luxury wilderness expedition cruise company in Tasmania, has launched the Odalisque III liveaboard cruise ship, which was designed by Incat Crowther. On Board launched Odalisque III in January 2023 with a public ceremony attended by local media at Hobart’s historic Constitution Dock, and the , a 24-meter boutique vessel is now set for its maiden voyage into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Built by Tasmanian shipbuilder Richardson Devine Marine, the aluminum-hulled Odalisque III can host up to 12 guests in six stylish and flexible guest cabins…

04 Jan 2023

Hull Fouling Spoils Australia-New Zealand Cruise

Viking Cruises will compensate hundreds of passengers on its Orion cruise ship after cruisers were forced to stay on board and miss multiple stops because officials blocked port access due to marine growth on the ship's hull.The 930-guest capacity Viking Orion docked in Sydney on Wednesday, the final stop on what is normally a 15-day, 9-stop cruise of New Zealand and Australia.But plans went awry, local media reported, after New Zealand officials asked the ship to leave the country's waters part way through its cruise after finding small amounts of biofoul - plants, algae and small animals - that grow on ship hulls.Steaming directly to the southern Australian port of Adelaide and bypassing planned stops in Tasmania and New Zealand's south island…

21 Dec 2022

Rauma Begins Building Second LNG Ferry for Spirit of Tasmania

(Photo: Rauma Marine Constructions)

Finnish shipbuilder Rauma Marine Constructions held a steel cutting ceremony to mark the official start of construction for Spirit of Tasmania V, the second liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered car and passenger ferry for the world’s southernmost open sea route between mainland Australia and Tasmania.The production of the first vessel began in February 2022 and its keel-laying ceremony was held in late October. The design and construction of both vessels have proceeded according to schedule.

28 Oct 2022

Rauma Shipyard Lays Keep for Spirit of Tasmania IV

(Photo: Rauma Marine Constructions)

Finnish shipyard Rauma Marine Constructions held a keel laying ceremony of Spirit of Tasmania IV, a car and passenger ferry being built for the Tasmanian TT-Line Company.TT-Line, which operates between mainland Australia and Tasmania, has commissioned two identical Spirit of Tasmania vessels from RMC. The large-scale project is the biggest individual foreign sale between Australia and Finland.”Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the design and production of the Spirit of Tasmania vessels have proceeded according to the agreed schedule.

20 Oct 2022

On Board Orders Boutique Cruise Vessel

(Image: Incat Crowther)

Australian naval architecture firm Incat Crowther said it has been commissioned to design and deliver a new boutique liveaboard cruise vessel for Tasmanian luxury wilderness expedition cruise operator On Board. The 24-meter vessel, named Odalisque III, is currently being built by Richardson Devine Marine in Hobart and is scheduled for delivery in early 2023.Designed to provide guests with a luxurious wilderness escape in the pristine south-west Tasmanian wilderness, the aluminum-hulled Odalisque III can host up to 12 guests in seven stylish and flexible cabins…

17 Oct 2022

Nord Stream Breaches a Stark Reminder of Undersea Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

The gas leak at Nord Stream 2 in September seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm. Photo: Danish Defence

On the night of September 26, near the end of the calm season on the Baltic, a broiling kilometer-wide circle disturbed the face of the sea and a huge mass of methane erupted into the air. The gas formed a cloud that crossed Europe, in what’s considered the greatest single release of this potent greenhouse gas ever recorded.It was caused by four breaches of Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, located in or near the territorial seas of Denmark and Sweden. Seismologists detected explosions at a depth of 70-90 meters on the seabed.

05 Oct 2022

Incat and ABB to Develop Lightweight Hybrid-electric Ferry

(Image: Incat Tasmania)

Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania will work with technology company ABB to explore building an electric ferry with hybrid-electric propulsion which could transition to battery power as shore charging becomes available.Seeking a transitional route to zero-emission operations for the ferry segment, Incat and ABB will evaluate the suitability of the ‘Incat 148E’ - a 148-meter-long roll-on roll-off passenger (RoPax) catamaran for operating in hybrid mode as well as adapting to full battery operation at a later stage.Conceived by Revolution Design…

31 Aug 2022

Wärtsilä to Supply Propulsion for World’s Largest Aluminum Catamaran

(Image: Incat)

Wärtsilä said it will supply the engines, waterjets and fuel storage and supply system for a new high speed catamaran ferry. The vessel is being built at the Incat yard in Tasmania, Australia on behalf of Argentinian ferry operator, Buquebus. Having an overall length of 130 meters, a width of 32 meters and the capacity to carry 2,100 passengers and 226 cars, it will be the largest aluminum catamaran ever built by Incat. The order with Wärtsilä was placed in July 2022.The vessel…

23 Aug 2022

Sunken Tugs Recovered from the Bottom of the Mersey River

(Photo: AAL Shipping)

Salvors have removed two tugs from the Mersey River in Devonport on the northwest coast of Tasmania that had been sunk by a cement carrier in January.New South Wales based emergency response, salvage and environmental support specialist, United Salvage, engaged AAL Shipping to supply the 31,000DWT 700 tonne heavy lift vessel AAL Melbourne for lifting of the tugs and their onward shipment along the East Coast to Brisbane. The first tug, the 420 tonne York Cove, was pulled out of…

08 Aug 2022

MOVE Sets Up Shipping Route to Link NZ Ports to Tasmania and Australia’s East Coast

New Zealand-based transport and logistics group, MOVE Logistics Group Limited has set up its first trans-Tasman shipping line, scheduled for Q4 2022, as part of its new Oceans business.In line with this, MOVE has entered an agreement to acquire a vessel, the Atlas Wind, out of Europe. It is expected that the acquisition will be settled in October 2022. The Atlas Wind can carry 350 containers or the equivalent of 5,000 tonnes of bulk cargo. With two cranes on board, the vessel has the ability to call into ports that historically may not have been able to accept containerised and bulk cargoes, the company said.The maiden journey will be the first of a regular monthly voyage that will see goods shipped between regional New Zealand ports…

27 Jun 2022

Does Australia Need ‘Interim’ Submarines to Tide It Over Until Nuclear Boats Arrive?

(File image: Naval Group)

Last year experts raised their eyebrows when the Morrison government announced Australia would abandon its contract for French-built Attack class submarines, in favor of eight nuclear-powered submarines delivered under the AUKUS partnership.Retired Royal Australian Navy Chief Petty Officer Greg Jones was one key individual who questioned whether the choice is appropriate for Australia’s defense needs (at least in the short to medium term).One particularly controversial point is the time it will take for the nuclear submarines to become operational.